Complicated Matters
by Redonkadonk
Summary: It's almost time for racing season, and new arrivals throws the trainyard into a kind of chaos some are far too familiar with. (Rating and genre may be subject to change.)
1. New Arrival

_Author's Notes: The first multi-chapter story goes up! In all honesty, I wasn't sure how to start on writing something as long as this... I've always been better at writing one-shot stories (or at least one-chapter stories). But I wanted to write something that wasn't just one-hit-and-stop. I wanted to push beyond the limits that I've usually written to. I wanted to write more characters than just Rusty or Pearl, or Dinah and the other coaches. And that's... where this story started._

 _I want to apologize beforehand if my writing makes certain characters come off as Mary Sue-ish/Gary Stu-ish. I prefer to write behind characters with a set personality, but like when I wrote Any Coach He Wanted, I wound up writing a character that had less of a backstory than Gook did. Writing a larger backstory for a character that had little use + multi-chapter story in which I tend to write without planning = I don't know what the hell's gonna happen. I will however admit that this story, as I write this prenote, has been mostly pre-written. Again, I write without planning. And I have no beta readers._

 _Also, I might have jumped on the cliche trope train. I also apologize if the storyline winds up being too predictable. But I haven't finished writing the entire story, so I'm able to edit as I post more chapters and get more feedback. So please, give some constructive criticism! I would appreciate it greatly!_

* * *

"No."

"Aww, come on, please?"

"I said no!"

It was the last of the early morning hours at the trainyard. Long since had the last snowfall of winter melted away, and it was now the first day of spring. All the trains were excited to start practicing for that year's race, as it promised to be an exciting year for everyone.

Everyone except one, actually.

"Come on, why not? You promised you would!"

* * *

Rusty was having a hard time trying to find joy in the new season after he started work this morning.

He'd arrived with Pearl and Ashley in tow, and was dropping off the girls to clock in when they found a crowd of cars surrounding two new coaches at the main hall. One was clad in a light brown mini-dress and work gear with light tan sleeves and leggings, her auburn hair styled into a bun with two pillows in front of it; the other was dressed in white and black knee-length dress and black gear with black sleeves and leggings, her blonde hair tied up into a French twist with a visor shielding her eyes from the sun.

"Those two… They haven't been here before, have they?" Rusty had said, before both girls turned to face them, the one in brown jumping up and down before shouting Ashley's name and rolling over to them. As the two girls hugged each other and talked excitedly, the other new girl rolled up quietly to the others. He almost though he had seen her before, but couldn't place where before Ashley spoke up.

"Guys, this is Duvay, my little sister," she gestured to the girl in brown. Duvay was a sleeping car that had initially been assigned to another trainyard, but was brought following the closure of the station for "scandalous reasons", according to Ashley. (Duvay later clarified, "If they would've quit firing their workers, there wouldn't have been any problems..") Had he been paying attention, Rusty would've heard the name of the other coach, but he was so lost in thought that it took a few seconds for him to recognize that Pearl and Ashley were calling his name.

"Earth to steam train," the smoking car huffed with a thump to the engine's noggin, "they just called you over the intercom! You're up for training runs today with the newcomers, so y'all need to clock in before you're late!"

"Oh, sorry.. Must've zoned out." He turned to leave, but not before trading kisses with Pearl, an act that had Ashley and Duvay rolling their eyes in mock disgust. "I'll see you at lunch time, right?"

"Only if we're both not still busy by then," Pearl replied, brushing a lock of pink hair behind her shoulder. She giggled and hugged Rusty before pulling away and playfully tapping his nose. "Don't let the new girls charm you over now, or I might not share dessert with you later!"

"Right, you know I won't have anyone but you! I'll be okay, I swe-"

"RUSTY." Butting in before he could finish, Ashley bumped him towards the main hall doors with the side of her hip, while Duvay and the other coach were already heading inside. "Go clock in before you wind up even more late!"

Looking at the time on the central clock tower, he grew red and nodded in agreement before heading towards the doors. "T-that might be a good idea.. See you all later!"

Rusty would later meet the two again back at the training yard as they prepared for their first run on the rails. Being their first time on the AV rails, they had to get used to riding with some of the local trains. He got along well with Duvay, despite her constant yawning and many accidental double entendres, but it wasn't until it was her turn to practice that the other coach spoke to him for the first time, in the form of a question.

"Do you…remember me?"

"Huh?" The steam train had barely started moving when the question caught him off guard; he'd been trying to focus on their practicing that he hadn't put any more thought to who she was. "No, I guess I don't really know… Have we met before?"

The coach pouted for a second, taking Rusty aback. "You really don't remember me? That's sad… I guess you really haven't changed much since we were little, you silly little nutcase!"

"Nutcase…?" He had to admit that sounded a little familiar, but hardly enough to help. "I'm sorry, I don't recognize you all that much… Were you here when you were younger? Wouldn't you have already started on the lines here?"

The monochrome-colored car lightly scoffed at his question. "Of course I started here already! I started the same year you did!"

"You did? Are you sure? I don't recall seeing y-"

"Sofia. Remember that name?"

Sofia… That, he admitted to himself, sounded a bit more familiar… "A little bit… But I still don't-"

"Remember the name Sofa? Everyone called me Sofa because I was able to switch between sleeping mode and seating mode!"

"Ohh…. Sofa the sleeping car?" Now he remembered her somewhat; she had been one of the few he finished training with, but had only stayed on for a couple of months before transferring lines a few weeks prior to a major run. "That I do remember… So what brings you back to AV all of a sudden?"

Sofia grinned at him as they continued rolling along on the practice rails. "Good deal! And just Sofia is fine. I actually came back because of some important business."

"Really? What's so important that you had to transfer to a new trainyard like AV?"

"Oh, y'know what I mean! Now that I've transferred back, we can race together this season! Just like you promised!"

* * *

That had been almost four hours ago. Rusty had managed to practice on the rails with almost every newcomer (save for a baggage car that wasn't feeling well), and was just about to head to lunch when Sofia caught up to him.

"I don't get it, why won't you race with me?" Sofia rolled beside him, matching his speed with a little effort. "You did promise after all! 'When I become champion, then we can race together.' That's what you said!"

"I know exactly what I said," Rusty sighed; it had taken enough shock from hearing it over and over to remember just how that entire conversation went. "But I do believe I also said I'd race with you if I didn't currently have a partner, correct?"

"Well, yeah, you did say that too. But you never said you had one!" Sofia pulled on Rusty's couplers to make him stop; by this time, they'd made it to the main yard. "And it's not like you have one picked out already, right?"

Rusty turned to face Sofia with a look of annoyance. "Well, I figure I don't really have to pick one since I-"

"Rusty! Are you on lunch break now?" Coming from the freight yard, Pearl neared the two with Dinah and Dustin behind her. She eased to a stop, tilting her head towards the two. "Did I interrupt something?"


	2. Dwelling on the Matter

_Author's Notes: 2nd chapter is a go! Right now is probably the point where I explain a few things that I haven't explained yet. As hinted earlier, there's a character in this I wrote on with little to no backstory in the canon of the show; that'd be Sofia for the most part. Seasoned Starlight fans (however many of you there are reading this) might recognize her description in the first chapter somewhat, and that's because she's based off one of the 2nd/3rd-class sleepers from the original 1984 show. I wonder if she comes off as an OC, but I honestly mean it when I say I didn't intend for that to happen if that's the case. (As much as Rusty is my fave, I ship the bajeezus out of RustyPearl, I ain't got room for OCs because all mine I've done before came out as piles of doodoo.)_

 _Also, all my chapters will probably be small. Pages(program)-wise, each chapter will at the least be 3 pages long, unless I have to cut farther away from the 3-page line. I don't know how many chapters I'm into now, so it'll be interesting to see just how far along I am in this story._

* * *

"Did I interrupt something?"

Sofia let go of Rusty's couplers, and turned to face Pearl and the others, a smile on her face. "No, we were just talking... About the racing season, I mean. I hear everyone's pumped for it!"

"Oh, don't we know it," Dinah replied, bouncing with joy. "This is the first year that we have a new champion racin'! And new nationals, I think!" Both her and Dustin rolled closer as Dinah kept talking. "I think we got engines from China and Spain this year, maybe ya could partner up with them?"

"Maybe," Sofia mused, "though I kinda already had an idea for my partner." She rolled her foot back and forth, a small blush forming on her cheeks.

"Ooh, maybe you'll get him before the championship in a month? I think you'll have enough time by then," Pearl encouraged her. "You won't know unless you try and ask them! I wish I'd gone with my first choice last year, but I'm glad I get to this year… Right, Rusty?" She turned to her engine, finding that he looked a little more than green in the face instead of excited for their first championship together.

"Oi, Rusty, you alright?" Dustin rolled over to him, placing a gloved hand on the steamer's rusted shoulder. "You don't look so hot.."

"I-I'm fine…," Rusty lied; he had fully intended to tell Sofia that Pearl was his partner already, but he definitely didn't intend for Pearl to go ahead and say it. He cursed himself internally for not spitting it out sooner, but nodded his head quickly and cleared his throat. "We should probably go ahead and eat lunch while we still have time, right?"

Everyone agreed, but Sofia stayed quiet. Rusty could see that she had a puzzled look on her face, undoubtedly surprised at this revelation. Dinah scooted over to her and placed her hand on the sleeper's shoulder. "Do you wanna join us? I can make you somethin' really good if you want!"

The sleeping car's attention snapped back to the group, the dining car looking at her with a warm smile on her face. "Oh, sure!" Sofia smiled and nodded her head. "Lunch sounds great!"

* * *

It seemed to Rusty as though the rest of the day dragged on.

Their time at the diner felt like both a blur and like a lifetime had passed. A few times one of the coaches would ask him something, but his mind was so clouded he found it hard to keep up a conversation with them or Dustin even. After realizing he'd hardly eaten what he ordered, Rusty finally excused himself to return to the training yard, claiming he needed to finish up his work

He finished out the day with the remaining training for new freight trucks, working through the remainder of sorting freight for transit, and after clocking out, went to hang out with the boys at the freight yard. The atmosphere of the group sitting underneath the spotlights of the yard was warm and casual, as it always had been for Rusty, but the rusted steam train found it hard to relax this time. Lost in thought, it was only a matter of time before reality decided to catch his attention via flying brick truck.

"DOGPILE ON THE STEAM TRAIN!"

Rusty snapped back to attention to find himself tackled by Flat-top and two of the Rockies, while Dustin watched beside the youngest Rocky.

"Guys... R-really?! Y-you know it's hard to talk with this much weight on me.." He struggled to get out from under them, but there was too much to deal with.

"Suck it up, Rustbucket, I'm jus' doin' my job," Flat-top retorted. "Someone's gotta keep ya entertained, otherwise you jus' sit 'ere lookin' all gloomy and doom-y!"

"He's right, though," Dustin chimed in. "You've been actin' weird since lunch break. Wot's on your mind?"

The steam train coughed; he didn't know if he'd have enough air to breathe, let alone say anything. "It's nothing… I've just had a weird day is all.."

"It's ain't because of Sofa, is it?" The oldest Rocky asked, a bored look on his face. "What's she done to upset you this time?"

"She didn't do anything," Rusty said as he pushed against the pile of trucks on him. "If anything it's more like- o-okay, can you guys PLEASE get off me? It's getting hard to breathe!"

Came the reply from the brick truck and boxcars: "NAH." A swift elbow to someone's side sent the two Rockies rolling off the pile. The engine and the brick truck began to roughhouse until a soft but booming voice made them stop.

"Now here I thought you both were past the wrestling age," Poppa mused as he rolled past the two, the Red Caboose following close behind. "You must've driven him mad to get him to fight back, Flat-top."

"Nah, he's just-*BONK*- havin' a rough day," Flat-top wheezed out, "and I thought I'd cheer 'im-*WHAP*- up!"

"Is that so?" Poppa scratched his greying head. "Well, Rusty, what's got you worried today?"

"I said it's- *THUNK*- nothing!" Rusty managed to cough out. "If anything, it's just something I did- OW!" The match was over as Flat-top managed to get Rusty into a headlock.

"A'IGHT. Now then, jus' tell us what's botherin' you already, and I'll let ya free!"

"I-It's nothing! Can't you guys just leave it at that?" Rusty rubbed the side of his dirtied face; he'd definitely feel the pain there the next morning. Actually, he thought, it'd be safer to bet that he'd feel pain everywhere the next morning.

"That don't get it resolved, though," added in Rocky 2, rubbing the side that had gotten hit by Rusty's bumper.

"To be honest, it can't really be resolved..," the young steamer sighed. "Not by you guys, at least."

Caboose took a seat on the ground next to Dustin. "Well, what is it about it that makes it hard to resolve?"

"I don't know," Rusty said, feeling as though he could just sink into the ground. "I mean, I get why I did what I did, but that was way back then, and this is now, and… I just feel like it won't end well. Like I've made things worse..."

"So it's a personal problem," Flat-top teased lightly, releasing Rusty from the headlock and rolling to the side. "Maybe you jus' need to talk about it wit' someone? ... Like a therapist or a medical truck...Or Pearl.." He had just barely said that before getting tackled by one of the Rockies again.

"…There's no telling how that would go." He'd had enough for the night, he felt. Running a hand through his dark blonde hair, Rusty grabbed his hat from the ground and stood up. "I think I'll go ahead and go to bed for the night. Sorry, guys.."

"No need, boy," Poppa rolled over to him and patted his shoulder. "You just remember that some things need to be talked about. You can't just keep worries to yourself all the time."

Rusty sighed, feeling like the weight of the world was on him. "I know, Poppa. I know." He turned and headed off to the housing units, finally making it inside his place before crashing on his bed. As he drifted off to sleep, he thought back to the day that started it all…

* * *

 _If you liked this chapter, give it a favorite or leave a comment! Constructive criticism is always welcome as well!_


	3. The Promise

_Author's Notes: 3 chapters in! Yay! A small bit about this scene; I've debated just how the trains grow up in the Starlight 'verse, but never got the chance to write it all down. As it stands, I imagine they age as humans do. I haven't quite got the gist of train biology down yet, as I'm trying to refrain from taking up the Robots movie-verse line of thinking (all dem spare parts tho?)._

 _Train education in this story-verse starts at the age that humans will start elementary school, collectively known as "general training" up until they reach about jr. high age, where the collective group splits off into "freight training", "coach training", and "engine training" (like the separation of girls P.E. from boys P.E.). At this point, we're still in general training, and Rusty's now in the early stages of his rust becoming a clear problem... It hasn't hampered any of his abilities yet, but you'll see that it's more of a personal problem than it should be._

* * *

Rusty sighed, feeling like the weight of the world was on him. "I know, Poppa. I know." He turned and headed off to the housing units, finally making it inside his place before crashing on his bed.

As he drifted off to sleep, he thought back to the day that started it all…

* * *

"Hey kid, are you okay?"

The sound of a girl's voice had broken the little steamer out of a somewhat fitful sleep. Rusty sat up and looked around at his surroundings; they were not too far from an empty playground near the training school. It was late in the afternoon, and the sun was close to setting behind a bunch of clouds near the horizon. He had been laying under a tree under the cover of the branches; once giving shade, they offered no protection against the setting rays. How long had he been here…

"Are you alright?"

Rusty groggily turned to face the girl speaking to him. Clad in a white dress and black gear, her blond hair in a ponytail…

"Oh… Hi, Sofa…," he answered back with a yawn, rubbing his eyes. "I'm fine… I must've drifted to sleep... How long have I been laying here?"

"Long enough, I think… Class ended two hours ago!" Sofia sat down beside him. "The teachers were throwing a fit 'cuz they couldn't find you! Someone said you ran off during recess.."

"Ran off..?" He yawned again. Why would he do that? He couldn't think of a reason why he'd do that..

"… Have you been crying?"

"Huh?!" Rusty stopped mid-yawn. "I.. I haven't been crying.. I was just sleepy, I guess-"

"But you've got tear streaks down your face." The sleeper car pointed a finger way too close to the steamer's cheek. "They go right through the smudges of dirt on your face.. And your eyes are red, and your nose sounds snotty and-"

"S-So what if I've been crying, okay?" Rusty cried, growing irritated. "Why does it matter? …And why'd you come looking for me?"

"Because everyone was worried, obviously… What were you crying over?"

"It's.. None of your business, Sofa."

"Come on, just tell me."

"No."

"Just tell me!"

"No, it's nothing to you!"

The steamer and sleeper sat silently for a while, staring at each other with a stubbornness that would put a mule and its mother to shame. The sun continued to descend and the temperature slowly fell amid the silence.

"..You wouldn't understand, anyway," Rusty started, leaning his head on his knees. His light brown shirt and black overalls were splotchy with dirt and covered in bits of grass, somewhat damp from the moisture of the day. "No one would, really…"

"… Is this about being teased about your rust? It's not that big of a deal."

Rusty winced. The rust had only been a mild problem up until just recently when he discovered more patches of it among his body.

Up until other trains discovered what he was beginning to deal with.

Up until they began to tease him for it.

"It is… Today, Greaseball and his friends started picking on me… They hadn't really done it real bad before, but today… It was just like I'd insulted their mom or something. Saying things like how I wouldn't be able to work in the future when my rust gets worse, or how no one will want to couple up with me when I'm older…"

"Well.. Of course someone's gonna couple with you later. Everyone'll be racing by then!"

"Don't count on it… By that point, the rust would probably be to the point where I can't do anything.." Rusty raised his head back up, leaning it against the trunk of the tree they were under. "And even then, it's not like I'd have a chance! Greaseball would mop the floor with me in an instant. I wouldn't last a second!"

"… You're right, he probably would." The glare Sofia received was enough to make retrace her steps. "But that doesn't mean you don't have a chance…? There's more to racing than just strength and speed... At least, that's what Poppa says."

"Poppa says a lot of things," Rusty retorted, standing up on his wheels and brushing the grass off his overalls, "but that doesn't mean he's always correct."

Sofia groaned. "Oh man, he wasn't kidding about you being stubborn. Can't you just open your mind up to the idea that maybe, just maybe, you could win the race if you tried hard enough?"

"Why do you even care? You and all the other coaches think Greaseball is the best, anyway. Why encourage a new opponent to best him?"

"Because it's fair, obviously. I'm all for Greaseball winning when he gets old enough to race, but you have just as much a chance at winning than he does." Sofia stood up as well and brushed the grass off her dress. "Of course, if you're not going to even try proving it, then why bother?"

She started rolling away as she spoke, gaining speed slowly… until Rusty suddenly grabbed hold of her couplers. Turning back to glare down at him, she saw that he'd now had an odd look to him… Almost like he was brighter than when she first found him.

Like the gears in his head had clicked together and were now turning. Processing... _Thinking_... **Deciding**.

"Do you really think… I have a chance at winning a race someday?" He stared at her, a slight hint of nervousness in his voice. "Really, truly think so?"

Sofia blankly stared back at him, an air of uncertainty growing around her; she wasn't sure what to think now. "Sure.. I mean, if you try hard enough, then everyone has a chance at winning."

Rusty contemplated her answer, then sighed deeply. "Then hear me out.. I'll hold you to your belief. If I become champion ever, you have to race with me… Promise?"

Sofia bit her lip, trying hard to stifle the need to giggle. "If? Sounds a little weak to me.."

"And it sounds like you're too scared to even think about racing with me!"

"Who was it that was doubting themselves a few minutes ago? 'Cuz it sure wasn't me.."

"Alright, fine then!" Rusty let go of Sofia's couplers and rolled in front of her. "Then I promise you, that _when_ I become champion, you and I will race together. But only if what you say is true… If I don't have a race partner for the following season, then we'll race. Got it?"

"… Okay then." Sofia roughly poked his shoulder, grinning. "I'll remember that promise. I look forward to the day we race!" She rolled past him and left the area, as Rusty watched her leave.

The little steamer sighed to himself; he still wasn't sure if he fully believed that he had even the slightest chance of winning a race in his growing condition, but he did know that even if he tried, it would take a lot of effort. And the more he thought about it, the more it bothered him. What if he could win? What would it prove? What would it change in how people thought of him? Rusty didn't know where to start from there, but he knew it would be a long road ahead of him. Starlight help him, it would be a very long road…

Sofia, on the other hand, didn't know what just happened. Did she really just convince him to try and win a race? And did she really just make a promise with him to race together? The others would laugh at her if they knew this.. Yes, she really did think he deserved a fair chance at racing, even if he was developing all that rust. But everyone knew that the rust would soon take a toll on his ability to move or even work. It would take a miracle for him to still do anything by that point in time…

* * *

It was almost 2 in the morning when Rusty woke up. He'd fallen asleep without cleaning up, so his blankets now smelled of sweat, soot, and dirt.

As he got up to take a shower, he debated how to settle this; he knew now that Sofia knew he had a partner, but he didn't know how she felt about it, considering she had been so excited in wanting to race with him only hours ago.

Rusty also didn't know if Pearl knew of what happened, or how she'd react to him telling her. Did she even need to know? Of course she needed to know, since they were together beyond being racing partners. He was only hers, and she was only his. There wasn't any way around it, and he didn't want to hurt Pearl's feelings because of a simple childhood promise... A promise..

His mind wandered back to the previous season, when she had promised him that they'd race together. But then she dumped him for someone else... and another one… He didn't want to do that to her, now that they were finally together…

Rusty decided that he'd talk to Pearl about it tomorrow. They would both be off after lunch, so they'd have the time to be alone and not have to worry about other matters.

* * *

 _If you liked this chapter, give it a favorite or leave a comment! Constructive criticism is always welcome as well!_


	4. Down with the Sickness

_Author's Notes: It took a while to get this chapter up, I know. I've tried to keep a regular schedule up for updating chapters since most of the story is already written, but life got in the way and it's still being a pain in the potato to deal with. But yeah, chapter 4! So I think, at some point, the continuation of the idea for this story formed with this particular situation in mind; I can't directly recall a time it's been used story-wise outside this fanfic, but it seems like a bit of a cliched but fun situation to have happen, with the right details._

 _This is also one of those chapters where my mind runs rampant and just... I have laughing fits, writing this story is just so damn entertaining. Not that I like tormenting my favorite characters, it's just interesting to see how things can develop when writing a story. Also, if it makes anyone feel better, I got sick shortly after posting the last chapter, so I definitely know the feel now._

* * *

Rusty decided that he'd talk to Pearl about it tomorrow. They would both be off after lunch, so they'd have the time to be alone and not worry about other matters...

...

At least, that's what he had hoped to do. But the steamer woke up to find himself down with a serious case of the flu, or at least what trains defined as a flu. His nose seemed to be indecisive between running and being stuffy, his body ached nearly four times as bad as it did when his rust really bothered him, his lungs felt weak and tight, and he could feel a headache coming on. A quick call to the stationmaster allowed him to stay home with no worries, he hoped, so he drifted back into a fitful sleep. A sleep that was disturbed by the soft but rhythmic tapping and rolling of wheels in another room. Easing himself up into a leaning position, Rusty looked around and listened for any other sounds.

Wheels on the linoleum in the kitchen...

Shuffling of papers or objects...

A few hushed voices, quiet but familiar..

He figured it had to be Pearl and one of the other coaches; she was usually the only one with a key to his place and used it when she needed something from his place. He laid back down, possibly to go back to sleep, but a sudden itch caused him to sneeze a few times. Silence, he heard following it, then the shuffle of a chair and the sounds of movement. A knock at his bedroom door came as he reached for a nearby tissue box.

"C-come in...," he managed to eke out between blows and sniffles.

"Sounds like you got something nasty to deal with!" He was surprised to find it was Buffy instead of Pearl; behind her was Belle, an older sleeping car that many in the freight yard playfully referred to as "Momma", as she was much like Poppa in the sense of being a parental figure to them growing up. "You doing alright? Pearl asked us to check up on you since she was busy.."

"Yeah... I'm fine," Rusty wheezed, rubbing his hands on his face. The sleep he got hadn't really helped out with the flu much; if anything, it just made him feel worse combined with his current issues. "Just didn't feel up to working today.. Must've caught something on a run earlier."

"It might be stress-related." Belle eased her way into the room. "Poppa tells me you've been worryin' your head over something. Says you wouldn't talk to him or the boys about it."

The steamer groaned before falling back onto the bed. "I told them it was nothing. There's no need to worry about it-"

"It's about Sofia, ain't it?" Buffy interjected, while she looking at some pictures of the trains when they were younger; one featured three of the coaches sitting on top of a few of the freight trucks. "Dinah says you were acting a little off while you guys were at the diner earlier, she wondered if she had something to do with it."

"It's not about her-"

"You know, she was talking a lot about the practice runs you two had earlier." Both Rusty and Buffy turned to face Belle, who sat on the corner of his bed with her legs crossed. "It sounded like she really enjoyed it. Maybe she's got a bit of a crush on you?"

"I hope not!" Rusty shot back up, his cheeks turning a deeper shade of red. "I know I promised I'd race with her if I was without a partner, but I'm taken now and I love Pearl and I can't back down from tha-" The stunned look on both the coaches' faces stopped Rusty short of his rant, when he realized just what exactly he'd said. He cradled his head in his hands when after a moment of silence, Buffy burst into a fit of laughter.

"Oh my Starlight, THAT's what you're so nervous about?" The buffet car had to sit down on the other side of the bed to keep from hitting the floor. "This would be something only you would be worried about!"

"It's not that funny, Buffy!" Rusty tried to sit back up but a sudden cough knocked the air back out of him. "You might find it funny, but you just don't understand.."

"So then explain it to us, so we can understand," Belle said as she rested a hand on his knees. "We won't know unless you tell us why it matters so much to you."

The room was silent for a bit, save for Buffy's quiet snickering, before Rusty slowly sat back up and shook a hand through his hair, noting that his head was now throbbing. "A long time ago, I promised Sofia that if I ever became champion, then we'd race together, but only if I didn't have a partner..."

Belle nodded her head. "Alright. So now you're the champion. But you've also got Pearl as your partner, right?"

"Yeah. We'd already talked about racing this season and finalized plans a while back."

"So then, what's the deal?" Buffy asked, rubbing a hand on her shoulder. "She'd understand if you just told her you had a partner, right?"

"Well, I would've hoped so, but before I could tell her outright, Pearl kinda went ahead and said it out loud. I don't want to look like I was leading her on, and I haven't explained any of this to Pearl yet either..." He stopped to blow his nose again before continuing. "I didn't want a fight to start over it, but at this point, it looks like I've done more to make it worse than better.."

Belle shook her head, standing up from the bed and smoothing out her gathered skirt. "Rusty, sometimes it's better to tell people the truth rather than worry about what might happen. But I think I can see why you're so worried..."

"I don't, honestly," Buffy interjected before Belle shot her a disapproving look, silencing her.

"I just don't want to treat Pearl like she did to me last year, but at the same time, I don't want to hurt Sofia's feelings.. I'd hope she'd understand if I explained it to her, but I don't want to risk making bad blood between anyone.."

"That may be," Belle added in, sitting beside Rusty and placing a gloved hand on his forehead, "but sometimes we can't help but risk that. We feel bad in the end, sure, but in the end you're really just trying to do what's right, and that's all that matters." She scrunched her face and removed her hand. "Speaking of feeling bad, you feel like you're running a real high temperature."

"Well I can't say this whole thing has helped out," Rusty laughed before coughing again.

"Neither does that cough you've got going on," Buffy eased towards the door. "We brought a case of water bottles since Poppa got an extra one for the freight boys. He figured you'd need it since you've been having a lot of runs going through drier areas."

"That's nice, but the only thing I need right now is more sleep.." Rusty groaned. He didn't know if he was feeling worse than when he first woke up or better, but he just wanted to keep resting. "I don't want to take off more days than I need to. Control says there's a run heading up to Edmonton in Alberta tomorrow, and he's already assigned me to it."

"That's an awfully far distance for you to cover...," Belle said, worry in her dark eyes. "I know you've had repairs done to where your rust ain't so much of a burden now, but that's far for any train to make, especially with such unstable weather at this time of the year."

"I know. He said I'd only make it up part of the before handing off the cargo to another train that's made for worse weather, but I told him I'd be able to handle it on my own."

"No you wouldn't," Buffy huffed. "Just because you're the current champion, it doesn't mean you get to go and take on impossible tasks because of it. Also, you hate the cold."

"I'm not going to back out of it now, Buffy. Also, you hate the cold too, so don't go throwing that-" Rusty was interrupted by another coughing fit, this time seeming worse than before. "... I'm not backing out now, and that's it."

"We'll see about that," Buffy muttered before exiting the room, quietly ranting to herself before leaving the depot.

Belle sat for a moment before turning to Rusty. "Hun', I seriously think you need to reconsider the run for the time being. I can call up Control and tell him-"

"But I can't-" Rusty was stopped by Belle raising her hand to in front of his face.

"I can tell him you're not feeling well right now, and if you're not feeling better by tomorrow, then you'll be unable to do the run. No buts about it. We have other engines to use that can do the work. You need rest. And if that cough ain't better by tomorrow, we're gonna have Wrench take a look at you."

"Belle...," Rusty half-heartedly glared at her, feeling far too weak to try and fight any more. "I just don't want to let anyone down..."

"You won't let anyone down. They'll understand if you just explain everything. It goes for work just as well as what's going on with Pearl and Sofia." Belle stood up and rolled over to Rusty's side, giving him a hug. "Don't worry about it right now, though. Get some sleep, if you can."

The steamer sighed once more, then laid back down onto the bed. "I'll try... I can't guarantee anything, though..."

Belle laughed lightly. "See ya later, hun'." As the door closed, Rusty laid still on the bed. Trying hard to clear his mind, he could feel himself growing more tired. He hoped, before he drifted off to sleep once more, that maybe he would be able to explain everything... That everything would be okay...

* * *

 _If you liked this chapter, give it a favorite or leave a comment! Constructive criticism is always welcome as well!_


	5. A Little Unusual

_Author's Notes: Chapter 5 up finally! Apologies for the long wait, if anyone really cares... I've had some laptop problems that I'm still dealing with, along with problems at work that are serving to be a bit more stressful than I'd like to deal with. but I'm still here!_

 _But yeah, Ch. 5! The focus shifts from Rusty's perspective to someone else's... I hope to expand to the thoughts behind everyone's thoughts and actions, rather than focus on just Rusty's viewpoint and him dealing with what happens._

* * *

As the door closed, Rusty laid still on the bed. Trying hard to clear his mind, he could feel himself growing more tired. He hoped, before he drifted off to sleep once more, that maybe he would be able to explain everything... That everything would be okay...

* * *

"Dustin! Is Rusty with you?"

It had been earlier the other day, while Rusty was dealing with Sofia, that Pearl was looking for Rusty. Normally they met up at the main hall when they had the same break time, but this time, Pearl was off earlier than she had planned. She had gone to find him, and went to the freight yard first.

"Oh?" Dustin looked up from playing his mouth organ to find Pearl heading his direction. "Oh, 'ello Pearl! I think he's still at the trainin' yard with the new trains... Practice must've run longer than he hoped!"

Pearl giggled. "I'm sure it could've. He wanted to make sure they understood everything before they finished for the day."

"Y'all plannin' on having a special lunch today?"

"No," Pearl blushed, "I just wanted to meet up with him a bit differently, that's all. We were kinda thinking of having a group lunch today, if anyone else was interested. Wanna join us?"

Dustin put away his mouth organ and got up from his spot on the ground. "Don't see why not! Flat-top's off with the diesels 'gain, so I woulda been by myself if Poppa was busy."

"Alright! I guess we can try the training yard now and meet up with Dinah and the girls afterwards."

They had just left the freight yard when Dinah caught up with them near the clock tower. She had her bag on her shoulder and had a hairnet still wrapped around her hair, from an apparent mishap with the spray nozzle and a rubber band in the kitchen's sink. A quick trip back to her housing depot and a round with the hairdryer and curling iron allowed her to fix the damage. They exchanged a few words before heading towards the training yard, finally reaching the time where most trains would've been released for lunch break.

It was about this time that Rusty and the new coach Sofia were coming out of the training yard. From the group's view, the two were talking to each other, when the coach suddenly grabbed onto the steamer's couplers. Pearl noticed this and quickly headed over to them with Dinah and Dustin behind her.

"Rusty! Are you on lunch break now?" She stopped just a few feet in front of them, where Sofia let go of Rusty's couplers. Pearl figured she had just stopped them mid-conversation. "Did I interrupt something?"

"Nah, we were just talking," Sofia spoke first, a bright smile on her face. "About the racing season, I mean. I hear everyone's pumped for it!"

"Oh, don't we know it," Dinah piped up from behind as she and Dustin neared the others; they too had noticed the earlier scene and were watching with piqued interest. "This is the first year that we have a new champion racin', and new nationals, I think! I think we get engines from China and Spain this year, maybe you could partner up with them?"

"Maybe," Sofia replied, "though I kinda already had an idea for my partner." Pearl noticed that the coach's cheeks had turned a slight shade of red. She beamed with excitement; the new girl already has a crush on someone!

"Ooh, maybe you'll get him before the championship in a month? I think you'll have enough time by then," the pink-clad girl encouraged Sofia, a smile on her face. "You won't know unless you try and ask them! I wish I'd gone with my first choice last year, but I'm glad I get to this year… Right, Rusty?" She turned to Rusty, hoping to hear his excited response. Instead, she found him one step from looking like he'd accidentally show everyone what he ate for breakfast that morning.

Dustin glanced to his friend, worry etched on his usually soft face. "Oi, Rusty, you alright?" He rolled to Rusty, putting a hand on his shoulder. "You don't look so hot.."

"I-I'm fine…," Rusty replied, sounding a bit uneasy as he shook his head. "We should probably go ahead and eat lunch while we still have time, right?"

Pearl looked Rusty over; normally she wouldn't think much of it, but she thought he was acting a little odd. But she agreed, just as everyone else did. She glanced over to Sofia, who looked a bit confused.

Dinah noted the look on her face and rolled over to her. "Do you wanna join us? I can make you somethin' really good if you want!"

Sofia looked as thought the question had caught her off guard, but she smiled and nodded her head in acceptance. "Oh, sure! Lunch sounds great!"

They later met up with Buffy, Ashley, and Duvay, and the lunch break went great. Well, almost great. Despite being surrounded by her friends and her boyfriend, Pearl was worried; Rusty hadn't been acting right, almost as if he was too distracted by something. Buffy and Duvay had asked him some questions about the new trains, but he'd give short responses and trail off into silence, barely even touching the food he'd ordered. He wound up leaving a little bit early to continue training with the new freight trucks, leaving the coaches and Dustin behind. Sofia later left with Duvay to finish their training, leaving Buffy and Ashley there with the others.

"Hey, do you guys think Rusty acting a little funny?" Pearl said to them, as she messed with a napkin on the table. "It seems like he's not right at all today."

"He is actin' a lil' odd, I'll admit," Dinah said, sipping her drink absentmindedly. "He's always had a wanderin' mind, but he seemed to be more wanderin' than usual today.."

Buffy sipped her coffee, and ate a french fry or two. "So he's just daydreaming more today? Sounds like nothing to me."

"Nah, it's more than that," Dustin quipped. "He wasn't lookin' too good earlier, but he's been tryin' not to show it. He does that often when 'e works sometimes.."

Ashley smoked a cigarette next to an open window. "A bit too prideful, ain't he? Is he just not feeling well or just seems distracted?"

"It kinda seems like both," Pearl mused. "I don't know... Am I worrying too much?

"Seems like you don't worry enough, honestly," Buffy laughed. "It's probably nothing, He could be tired from working the day before, or not getting enough sleep or something."

"But he seemed fine earlier, didn't he? Ashley, you were with us, didn't he seem okay to you?"

Ashley tapped some ashes into a nearby ashtray. "Well, he did now that I think about it... Maybe the practice runs made him tired?"

"Maybe..."

"And then he was talkin' to Sofia earlier..," Dustin added, biting into a cherry tomato on his plate. "Maybe that had somethin' to do wit' it?"

Dinah took another sip of her drink. "But why would he be upset over her?"

"Maybe she was difficult durin' practice?"

"But he's dealt with worse before. He put up with Rocky 3 and Flat-top before on a run, remember? Two hours of 'Most Annoyin' Sounds in the World' with 'em, and I'm surprised they didn't derail anywhere!"

Everyone nodded their head. "Yeah, there's a point right there," Buffy laughed.

"I guess I'll talk to him about it after everyone gets off work," Pearl decided. "It'd be easier rather than pulling him from practice to talk about it, that's for sure."

Ashley snuffed out her cigarette. "If you need to, one of us can head over with you. It might be late when he gets off work."

"Thanks, but I'll be alright."

The trains all dispersed after they cleaned up, and resumed working for the day. Pearl tried as hard as she could to remember to talk to him after work, but Control's sudden assignment of a train in need of a passenger coach the next day forced her to head home to get some rest. The entire night, she laid restless, thinking about whatever it could be that weighed heavily on Rusty's mind. Before she knew it, she wound up falling asleep about the same time that Rusty had woken up for the first time, leaving her very sleep-deprived. She managed to get up in time for work, but wasn't able to make it to Rusty's before she left, so she asked Belle to check up on him for her. Buffy offered to go with her for the sake of boredom (or as Buffy said; "he might need a good talking-to to get him back on track").

She would find out only part of the story when she returned.


	6. The Struggle is Real

_Author's Notes: The train keeps going! Would've updated sooner, but ice storm/blizzard conditions knocked out power in our town for a few days, so between work, the Christmas rush, and having no power, I hadn't been able to update as regularly as I would've liked._

 _But chapter 6! I haven't heard much in terms of criticism or advice, so I'm hoping you guys are enjoying it still. I'm still writing out the rest of the story as I go along, so parts do end up being either added to or rewritten as I reach them. I'm about 22 pages into the document with the chapters I've posted so far, so I've still got a few more chapters I can get out before catching up with the storyline at its current point. Gotta keep on rolling on!_

* * *

"I swear, he's just too stubborn sometimes!"

Buffy's head rested on her hands as she sat inside of Ashley's saloon car, the smoking car herself situated on the opposite side of the table with a deck of cards in her hands. A glass of liquor and bag of snacks sat beside Buffy's arm, open and having been finished halfway.

"Well, he was raised by Poppa," Ashley quipped, shuffling the deck in her hands. "It's a given that Rusty's inherited quite a few of his traits over the years."

"Well why did he have to get the stubbornness trait, too?"

"Buffers, I've listened to you rant about this for a good half-hour now, can we PLEASE start this game of cards now?"

"Sorry..." Buffy took a swig of her drink as Ashley set the cards up for their game. But no matter how hard she tried not to, it was only a minute later that she couldn't keep quiet. "It's just so frustrating! How do you not think to just talk to people about that kind of thing?!"

Ashley sighed, feeling like she wasn't ready to deal with another thirty minutes of complaining. "You realize this is similar to what he's already gone through, right?"

"Yes, he's already mentioned that being a factor in it.."

"Then you should see why. He's scared of hurting people. He wouldn't have wished what happened to him during the championship on anyone, so he tries to keep from doing the same."

"But it just makes it so much more complicated!"

Ashley laid her cards down; she could feel the itch for a nicotine break coming on. "I know. It's just how he is.."

Buffy sighed heavily; she feared this one glass of alcohol wouldn't be enough to calm her down, but she wasn't about to become an alcoholic just by Rusty's actions alone. "But why make a promise about something like that? Surely he knows how life can be surprising and unexpected."

"I'm sure it's because he wasn't confident in himself at the time. Sofia gave him confidence, even if it was a little bit, so he wanted to make sure it was an honest thing. You know he hates being pitied-"

"But then Sofia left! What if she had stayed gone?"

"Then we clearly wouldn't be in this situation." Ashley took Buffy's glass of alcohol and downed it in one go, then sat the glass down on the table to Buffy's horror.

"Wha-... I WAS ENJOYING THAT."

"Pick your cards up, and let's play this game of War already."

"... Only if I can get another glass before we start."

* * *

A knock at the bedroom door woke Rusty up from another round of fitful sleep; this time, he awoke to find himself aching and feeling as if he were both overheating and freezing. It felt as if even lifting his head would use all of his remaining energy. He laid a hand on his forehead, but brought it back to find it trembling feverishly. Another knock at the door caught his attention, and he pulled the covers close. "W-who is it?"

"Rusty? Are you okay?" The light voice sounded out with an unmistakeable hint of worry. It was Pearl, having come back from her last-minute run. Unknown to the young engine, he had slept through the entire day and almost all of the next, missing the run he had intended to go through with. (Control, having been informed by Belle of him not feeling well, re-assigned Turnov to the run, despite the Russian train having plans to 'meet with a dear friend and have good times'; Control reminded him that work came before visiting with a friend, especially if said friend was a lounge car with a plentiful stock of vodka to keep the engine continuously inebriated.)

Rusty sat up quickly, almost rushing to get out of bed before a hard coughing fit knocked the energy back out of him. He fell back onto the bed, breathing hard and trying hard to not cry out in pain. "Come in...," he wheezed, pulling the covers back around him.

The door opened as Pearl slowly rolled in, closing the door behind her, a box under her arm and a bag hanging from her other shoulder. "Oh Rusty, are you alright? Belle told me you weren't feeling well, but I didn't think you'd be this bad..."

"I-I'm fine," the steamer lied as she rolled to the bed, sitting her stuff down and taking a seat beside him. "I-I just haven't gotten up and moved around is all... Been too lazy to-"

"Rusty.." The observation car placed a hand on his forehead; covered in sweat and dirt, it had indeed become warmer than it had when Belle and Buffy had visited prior. "Have you gone to visit Wrench at all? You're burning up, and you look..." Pearl hesitated; she had wanted to see Rusty so much since she missed her chance earlier, but she didn't expect him to look so ill. "You don't look well at all."

"I... haven't." Rusty rubbed a hand on the back of his neck as he sat up; he too could feel that the shirt he slept in was both soaking wet and gritty from when he'd fallen asleep before getting cleaned up. "I haven't really done much since after that day the new guys had practice..." He was caught up again by another coughing fit, and took a second to blow his nose. "... I don't know what I've caught, but it's definitely not a simple cold..."

Pearl took a handkerchief from her bag and cleaned his face off. "I don't know why you wouldn't go to get this checked on... Even with your repairs after the championship, you shouldn't let a cold or flu just ravage you like this." She took his chin in her free hand and pointed his face towards her, a cold seriousness to her voice. "You haven't gone crazy like Caboose did, have you?"

Rusty blinked a few times, taken aback by her sudden change of tone. "What?! N-no, I just... I haven't felt well enough to go anywhere or do anything," he stammered, a hint of a wheeze to his voice. "... Belle said she'd call Wrench if the cough hadn't gotten any better..."

"By the sounds of it, I'd say it hasn't..." Pearl sighed, a hint of weariness in her voice. "I'll go call the repair garage and see if she's in.." She got up to head towards the kitchen when she felt herself being held back; she turned to face Rusty, who was looking away, a hint of color across his pale dirt-streaked cheeks, with his hand holding onto hers. She had to admit that despite him being terribly sick, her heart still fluttered at the sight of him, much as it had many times before. "I'll be right back, Rusty... I promise." She ran her hand through his hair and smiled at him as he released her hand.

As she left the room, Rusty eased back down onto the bed. It was starting to feel more like a prison than a place to rest, he thought. But his mind wandered back to what Belle had said before she left: "You won't let anyone down. They'll understand if you just explain everything." He was still scared that Pearl would be upset. He was still afraid of hurting Sofia's feelings. But he wouldn't know what they really felt until he did something about it. He rolled over on his side, cursing the pounding in his head; he figured the headache he had previously was from Flat-top's wrestling with him, but couldn't place why he'd felt so miserable from a simple flu...

... He had to tell Pearl what was on his mind. He rolled back onto his back, grunting in pain as if it took every last ounce of energy to even move or twitch. It was hard to keep his eyes open with the light pouring in from the window of his room. It faced the western sky, shining with the rays of the afternoon sun. He had nearly drifted back off to sleep when Pearl rolled back into the room, a few things in her hands.

"That was pretty quick...," he mumbled out. "Did you get a hold of her?"

Pearl nodded her head as she sat of the side of the bed. "Yep. She's working on a diesel right now, but she'll be over when she's finished." She laid a tray on the table and put two spoons on the tray, and opened the box she had brought in as she spoke. "In the meanwhile, Volta recommended you eat something, so Dinah gave me some soup she'd made today before I came over... It's potato, I think." She pulled out a thermos and two plastic bowls from the bag, opening the thermos and pouring each of them a bit of the soup. "She sends her get-well wishes!"

Rusty half-heartedly smiled at the set-up, slowly sitting up to where he could reach the tray. "That's nice of them... I don't know if I'd be able to eat anything, though... I haven't really felt hungry the past two days, I don't think." He had taken the bowl of soup in his hands, stirring it with the spoon. He was wondering how to bring up what he was thinking, but didn't want to interrupt her in case she had wanted to tell him any stories of the run she'd been on.

"She figured that might be the case," Pearl agreed, "so most of what she gave me was the broth so you wouldn't have to chew much.." She was starting on her bowl, nodding her head. "It really was thoughtful of her to do that..."

The two sat in silence, each of them working on their bowls. Rusty found himself a bit more hungrier than he thought, but still couldn't get himself to finish the bowl as quickly as he'd hoped, occasionally having a coughing fit or two. Pearl eventually reached a point where she just stirred the remnants in the bowl, until she finally sat the bowl down, and dabbed at her mouth with a napkin. "Hey Rusty...?"

"Hm?" The steamer looked over to his girlfriend, who looked a little lost in thought. "What's up?"

"If I asked you something... would you answer me honestly? No matter what it was?"

Rusty sat his bowl down on the tray and swallowed hard. He figured that now was going to be the time, whether he wanted it to be or not. "S-sure... What's on your mind, Pearl?"

Pearl turned to face him and took his hand in hers, a serious look on her face. "Something's been really bothering you recently, right? What is it? You know you can tell me anything, so why do I feel like you've been keeping something from me..?"

Rusty could feel Pearl's eyes looking deep into his; he was so scared of what could happen, but if he didn't say anything now, he knew he'd seriously regret it. "... Well... to be honest, I'm not really sure why I've kept anything from you," he stumbled, slightly shivering as if the room had dropped in temperature, "... But I have been, I just didn't know... how to bring it up right..."

Pearl's head slightly tilted, but she kept her gaze on Rusty. "Well, it's okay to tell me... I'm here for you, I always will be! So what is it?"

Rusty swallowed again. "It's about racing this year..."

"Okay.."

"And it involves Sofia..."

Pearl shifted back, a little confused. "It does?"

"Y-yeah..."

"Alright... What's the problem?"

Rusty stopped to blow his nose; it definitely felt as though someone had taken sandpaper to it. "A long time ago, when we were younger and she used to live here... I promised her that when I became champion, I'd race with her..."

"Oh," Pearl breathed softly, softening her hold on Rusty's hand. "I see.."

"B-but I only promised her that I'd race with her if I didn't have a partner..."

"... Really?"

"Yeah," Rusty nodded. "I wasn't sure I'd find a partner, let alone win a race back then..."

"But you were able to-"

"I know... But back then, I was so scared that I... wouldn't be able to find someone. That I wouldn't be able to race, even..."

Pearl stayed quiet, processing what she'd heard. "So...? What next?"

"Well... she left, and I forgot about her and that promise," he continued, his voice slightly shaking, "But then she came back... I guess she heard about me winning the championship, and remembered the promise I made to her..."

A thought clicked in Pearl's mind; she thought back to when she'd met Sofia after the practice runs. 'I kinda already had an idea for my partner,' Sofia had said. And Pearl had encouraged her to... Her eyes widened as she realized who the coach had hinted to. "So then when we showed up..."

"I was about to tell her that I had a partner for the races when you guys showed up... and when you told her that we were going to be racing together..." Rusty coughed a little; he slipped his hand out of Pearl's hand as he laid back down on the bed. "I didn't want to lead her on, but I was afraid that after what happened, she would've been upset at me for trying to lead her on... I didn't want to cause any friction between anyone, but I know I should've said something sooner-"

Rusty stopped short as Pearl laid down beside him. When he had laid back down, she had moved the tray to a nearby chair and moved to lay beside him. She laid an arm over his chest and rested her head on the pillow beside his head. The young engine laid still, trying his hardest to not move. He couldn't help but feel a bit trapped, moreso than he did staying in bed for the past few days.

"It's okay...," Pearl finally said. "I'll admit I'm a little upset, though... And I agree, you should've said something sooner!"

"I know," Rusty said, coming out as a small whisper. "But after we ate that day, I just wanted to get home... I couldn't even stick around with the guys after work, I was just exhausted... I was going to tell you the next day, but as luck would have it, I wound up stuck here since then."

Pearl giggled lightly. "I actually planned to come by that night, but after I got word about the run I went on, I went to get some sleep... Of course, I didn't get much because-"

"Let me guess... you were worried?"

"...Yes."

"I'm sorry... I didn't mean to make you worry so much.." He shifted his head to rest it beside Pearl's. "I just didn't want to you to be upset over something like that. I didn't want it to look like I was bailing on racing with you if I did race with her, but because we'd already agreed on racing, I was also worried about hurting Sofia's feelings..."

Pearl lifted her head up. "Have you talked to Sofia about it yet? By now, she should know that we're racing together, right?"

"I haven't gotten to... After lunch, I worked with the freight trucks while the new coaches worked with Belle, so I didn't get the chance to talk to her about it... And I haven't seen her since before I left the diner, so I don't know how she feels about the whole thing..."

Pearl rolled onto her side. "Well, now that you have things cleared up with me, you need to go talk to her. It wouldn't be fair to her to be left in the dark about it all.."

"I know..." Rusty leaned up, propping himself up on his elbows. "I should've gone ahead and told her in the first place..."

"All that matters is that you don't want anyone to be hurt. You try and fix things, and you don't want anyone to be hurt... That's one of the things I love about you... You care about others. You're gentle, unlike Greaseball and Electra.."

"And you're kind, unlike Buffy and Wrench," Rusty replied, pulling Pearl into a hug. His body ached greatly, but for the first time in what seemed like ages, he didn't care. He hugged her tightly, as did she, until they had to release each other for Rusty to go into another coughing fit. "Speaking of.. how long did Wrench have until she'd be here?"

"I imagine working on that diesel took longer than she planned," Pearl said, sitting up and rearranging her skirt. "But in the meanwhile, I think you might could stand a shower... If you've been in bed for this long, it might help out a lot!"

Rusty very nearly objected, but stopped himself; he really hadn't left the bed since the last time Belle was here, and if he did, it had only been to use the bathroom. "Yeah... you might be right about that," he laughed, coughing a little bit. "I can't imagine Wrench would want to deal with a smelly steamer right after working on a smelly diesel..."

"Probably not," Pearl laughed, getting up from the bed, "but you might be an improvement, what with how they work every day!"

"Right..." Rusty moved to the opposite side of the bed and eased himself up. With how long he'd been bed-ridden, he was surprised to find that he wasn't near as weak as he thought. Still, Pearl helped him to the bathroom where she got the shower started. As he cleaned off, she hunted for clean clothes for him to wear.

All the while, she thought back to what he told her about the promise with Sofia. His fear that no one would want to race with him... Pearl couldn't really understand why he was so scared of it back then. She didn't ignore that at one point she had her own doubts about him, but the coach openly admitted that it was wrong of her to think that and go back on her own promise to race with him. Still, Pearl didn't get it - what made Rusty so scared about that at such a young age?


	7. As Told By Buffy

_Author's Notes: Chapter 7, known as that one part where I got a little wild with character reactions. You'll see what I mean when you read._

 _Also, there's two references to the On Ice and Mexican productions of Starlight; during their runs, they switched out a few of the Nationals for new engines. On Ice used Canadian and Greek trains while Mexico used Argentinean and Brazilian trains. Princey is also a character from the earlier productions of Starlight, appearing in most productions save for Bochum and and the Japan/Australia Tours._

* * *

"Oh yeah, I've really enjoyed it here!"

Sofia and Duvay sat at Dinah's diner, enjoying a couple of cookie dough milkshakes. The two had come to enjoy their time at the trainyard, even though it had been a very short time. They sat together with Ashley and Buffy, who sat with a mild headache and hangover, her head rested on the thick plexiglass table.

"That's good," Ashley said, removing a cigarette from her mouth. "For a second, I was worried we might have a repeat of that one time that Argentinean coach left the yard a day after she arrived because it was too boring for her tastes."

Buffy lifted her head up slightly. "Ain't that from like right before we had that massive pileup three miles down the track?"

"The day before."

"Riiiiight. We're totally too boring for anyone's tastes here..."

Duvay sipped more of her milkshake and yawned. "So how's Rusty doing? Is he still at home with that massive case of the flu?"

"Aaaaargh..." Buffy groaned, lifting her head up and finally sitting back. "Yeah, he's still stuck there as far as I know... Pearl called me saying she was going to swing by when she got back from her run... I imagine part of it's just sheer laziness.."

"Didn't Belle say he'd had a really bad cough or something? I remember a baggage car had a pretty nasty cough when we did training earlier. The repair truck we did physicals with nearly didn't clear him for training, but he said it was just a usual thing instead of an actual cold or something..."

Sofia sipped some from her milkshake. "I hope he's okay... I'd hate for him to miss out on race practice just because of a cold.."

"Ooooh, don't worry about that," Buffy cooed in a half-bored state, "Pearl will make sure he makes it to race practice even if he's near-death.."

This sparked Sofia's attention. "Pearl? Why would she care about him racing?"

Ashley stared at the grey-clad car. "Well, they are race partners, after all.."

Sofia blinked hard. "They are...?"

Ashley was joined by Buffy staring as well. "Yeah... They are dating after all."

"... But I thought first-class coaches weren't allowed to race?"

The smoking car and buffet car exchanged looks at each other, then back to the blonde sleeping car.

"In what universe is a first-class coach not allowed to race?" Buffy slammed a gloved fist down on the table. "That's stupid, who even does that?"

"... My last trainyard did."

Buffy just stared at Sofia, a confused look on her face. "... I'm sorry?"

Sofia shook her head. "N-Never mind that.. But Pearl and Rusty are dating? How long has that been a thing?"

Buffy leaned back in her seat. "Mmmm... About a year and a half now... Well, it's been almost a year since the last championship, and then there's that bit during it where Pearl left Rusty hearbroken and-"

"Hold up, hold up." Sofia stopped mid-sip when her attention was caught. "Heart-broken? What happened?"

Buffy leaned forward, seeming almost excited to tell this story again. "Well, there was this shiny new electric train that came in -you've seen him by now I'm sure; name's Electra, big, tall, tricolored mohawk, sends sparks EVERYWHERE-, and Pearl was just mesmerized by him.. Well, he invited her to race with him, but she was already partnered with Rusty. BUT! Electra was apparently a better choice at the time, so she went off with him, left Rusty just broken in metaphorical pieces."

Sofia's face morphed into a look of shock. "That's just horrible! How could anyone do that?"

"Ohhhhhh, but it gets worse! For some Starlight-forsaken reason, Pearl and Greaseball wound up flirting up a storm and racing together for the final races. Dinah's just in tears because Greasy's just hers and hers alone despite him uncoupling her earlier, but Pearl thought that he also could be her dream train, and so she just tells her to suck it up and stop crying."

All the while, Ashley and Duvay watched this scene unfold. It was only mid-story that Duvay noticed the look on Ashley's face growing increasingly horrified.

"I don't understand, how could he even go back to her after all that?"

Buffy laughed. "Oh. It's so simple. See, Greaseball wound up plotting with this little shit we know as Caboose to set Rusty up for failure, and when they derailed him during the first half of the final, Pearl found out and was full-on ready to tattle on them. But Greaseball's like 'NAH GIRL, YOU ON THIS RIDE 'TIL THE END', so she was essentially bullied into sticking with him-"

Ashley tried to protest. "Buffy, maybe you should-"

"But during the last half of the final, Pearl gets hurt by Electra and slows Greaseball down, and he's like 'WHY YOU SLOWING ME DOWN, MAAAAAN', and he uncouples her at full speed-"

"Buffy, please sto-"

"And Rusty- bless his flawed little heart -he's like 'I'M GONNA SAVE HER' and risks his life to save her and everyone's just floored, and Rusty wins the race and Greaseball and Electra and Caboose all wind up crashing in a big pile of rubble, and Rusty's her dream train, and they made up and everything was okay-"

"BUFFY."

Buffy stopped and turned sharply to face Ashley. "WHAT."

Ashley recoiled back quickly. "PLEASE. For the love of Starlight, CALM DOWN." She points to the two younger coaches; Duvay sat still with a look of shock on her face, while Sofia sat with her head on her hands.

Buffy leaned back onto the seat, slinking down and hiding her face with a menu. "Sorry... I might still be a little scatterbrained from our game of cards last night."

"That much alcohol was definitely not needed during that game," Ashley agreed, herself being a little hungover from having to discard of the last bottle of liquor Buffy had opened during their game.

"I... I'm amazed..." All three coaches turned to look at Sofia. She had finally raised her head, a look of surprise and anger on her face. "Through all that... and he still stayed with her?"

"She was very naive, though," Ashley interjected, putting out her cigarette. "She didn't really know she was causing that much harm to both Rusty and Dinah. She's definitely wizened up to how others feel, and is more careful around them."

"But still-"

"She's right, thought." Dinah rolled by, having overheard the entire thing with Greaseball, who had just entered into the diner. "Pearly's definitely matured since back then. She also gained Rusty's desire to keep from hurtin' others, so she's learned her lesson, no doubt 'bout that!"

Sofia rested her head on her hand. "W-wow... I had no idea..."

"Lot of us learned quite a few lessons that night," Greaseball muttered under his breath before being swatted by Dinah with a rag. "Hey!"

"You would know, Greasy!" Dinah wrapped her arms around her engine's chest, hugging him close with her face buried in his clothes. "That night sure was a ride for everyone!"

Sofia took another sip of her milkshake. "That's quite a story... I never would've known there was that much of a story between those two..."

"Yeah. But it certainly made last year interesting," Ashley mused. "Better than the year before then, when the Canadian train and Brazilian train broke into a fist fight mid-race and got derailed by the British train in the first heat."

"Oooh, didn't Princey get clocked by Greaseball right before the finish line, though?" Buffy asked, turning to face the diesel, a grin on his face.

"Like an egg shell to the concrete, that's how his face met my fist!" Greaseball laughed, not paying mind to the imagery that was left inside the younger coaches' minds.

Sofia sat her napkin down on the table. "I think I'm gonna head back to my depot now. There's still a few things I need to fix up to make it perfect and more home-like."

Ashley nodded her head, snuffing out her cigarette in her ashtray. "Sounds like a plan. Me and Buffy need to head out too, I think we've got a small trip to make in the morning."

"Do we?" Buffy looked up at her friend, a confused look on her face.

"Yes, we do," Ashley replied. "We need to go restock your liquor cabinet and find you another way to deal with your frustration."

Buffy responded with a mocking repeat of what Ashley just said, earning a noogie from the smoking car.

The black-and-white coach got up from the booth, and nodded at each of the trains. "I'll see you all later then. Good-bye!"

"Bye!"

The sleeping car left the diner with a smile on her face, but as the distance between them grew, the smile faded into a unreadable countenance. She felt a vague need to say something... To yell something... To scream or cry.

* * *

"I swear, steamer, you're more stubborn than Electra was when he swore he wouldn't set foot in this trainyard again."

Wrench had finally made it to the depot where Rusty lived, having tried to make quick work of the diesel she was working on when Pearl called. But a minor emergency involving a broken window and two more angry engines made the task a bit more time-consuming.

By this time, Rusty had finished his shower and was now sitting in the living area, while Belle had Pearl help her with cleaning up around the place. The older coach, having time to swing by after running errands, was nearly horrified to find that Rusty's sickness had gotten worse since she came around last time, and stayed to help clean up while Wrench tended to him.

A task that, according to the repair truck herself, wouldn't have been so hard had someone had some common sense.

"For the billionth time, I'm sorry," Rusty wheezed, dryly. While the shower had helped to freshen up and eased the aching, it hadn't done much for his health. "Maybe next time I'm sick, I'll set an alarm so I can get up and live a life instead of resting."

"I don't care if you have to wake up the entire line of depots to do so," Wrench hissed, tugging on the steamer's ear. "You're lucky that your boiler didn't fail while you slept for ages, otherwise we'd be having a much different conversation. We might have even been planning a funeral instead."

"Wrench, please calm down," Belle called from the kitchen, "He already suffers enough from his stubbornness, we don't need that negativity stuck in his head."

The repair truck blew a raspberry, very uncharacteristic for her, but since she and the other components had become independent of her former master Electra, she had learned to have something of a sense of humor. Even if the others didn't quite agree with it.

The steam train shot a smug look at Wrench, who paid no mind to it as she placed her tools back inside the bag she had brought with her. "Regardless, I'm not surprised about your situation. You've got the flu, that's no doubt, but because of your weakened self-repair system AND because you sat here for two days without any treatment, it's about twice as worse as it was when you first got it."

"But it's not too severe now, is it?" Pearl asked, rolling out of the kitchen, her hair tied up in a net to keep it out of the way.

"No, it's still manageable. Given his repairs he got earlier, it's much better than what it'd be like if he was still the way he was last year." Wrench sat down on a chair that had been pulled into the room, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "I imagine he got it from one of the trains he did training with earlier this week. One of them was sick if I recall correctly."

"That's good, I guess," Pearl sighed, taking a seat beside Rusty. She leaned on his shoulder, taking his hand with hers. "But why was the other car cleared for training? Was he unfit to go ahead?"

"The moron said it was a chronic thing. Clearly he lied, but I didn't have time to argue about it, what with deadlines and things. Control wanted them ready for training, and it was already far too late when he came into the garage."

"Whatever the reason, we're glad to hear he'll be fine," Belle said, joining them and taking a seat. "How long do you figure it'll be to get over it?"

"About two more days for the cold. One if he's persistent with the medicine." Wrench took off her helmet, running a hand through her red and blue hair. "I'll have Joule run some over here when she gets done with her stuff. In the meanwhile, I recommend getting some fresh air, since you've neglected doing that much. I'll notify Control about the news, and at the most, you'll have a business week's worth of time off."

"That'll work," Rusty said, nodding his head before coughing into his free arm. "I've got things I need to catch up on, so I can use the free time wisely."

"Then I'm sure you know the next part of my advice; no overexerting yourself until you are cleared to work. I'll check back later and we'll see how your progress is. By my say, I'll decide if you've taken care of yourself or not." Wrench put her helmet back on and gathered her bag. After saying her goodbyes she exited the depot, leaving the engine and coaches by themselves.

"So," Belle began, "I take it you haven't talked to Sofia yet about everything?"

Rusty shook his head. "Not yet... I didn't tell Pearl about it until earlier today.."

"I see," the old sleeper murmured. She leaned back in her chair, crossing her legs at the knees. "I've told Poppa about your being sick and what's been on your mind. Says he was aware something was bugging you, but didn't know what exactly."

"I just didn't want to worry anyone, that's all... I know he would've liked to hear about it, I'm sure.."

"I know. He understood that you weren't wanting to burden anyone with some simple problem, and knew the Starlight would help you sort everything out."

"Yeah, thank Starlight it hasn't been all that bad." The steamer laid back on the couch, rubbing a hand on his forehead. Rusty still felt exhausted, but he had to admit he felt a little bit better knowing that he was going to be okay and that he had fixed part of the predicament. But deep in his mind, he felt a nagging feeling- like he had missed something. Like he'd forgotten something else...


	8. Face the Heat

_Author's Notes: Chapter 8! Also known as the point when we're now caught up with the story at hand! It's been a fun journey so far, and I still don't know how to end this yet. Not that I want to, but I don't know how long it's gonna wind up being before I have to pull the drain cover on it. It's like taking a bath with smelly-good bubbles and candles and wine; you don't want it to end, but at some point you have to realize that being drunk in the bath probably isn't a good idea... Basically, you don't want to get burnt out on it._

 _New for this chapter, it's the first appearance of everyone else's favorite shiny train! I don't think I've used him to a good extent in any of my previous stories, so he might become somewhat prominent in this one (just like his appearance and actions, huh). Also new for this chapter; a little bit of intrigue and horror (depending on your view of certain dreams; if you have any problems concerning them, advance with caution)! All I can really say is: **The plot thickens**!_

 _Also, don't be afraid to leave any comments or reviews! I haven't heard much of anything from you guys, and I want to know if you liked or didn't like anything!_

* * *

"I swear, those two are just darn near inseparable!"

Dinah sat on the steps leading to a small patio outside the back of her diner. A small drink sat beside her, a glass of tea with a slice of lemon on the edge, while a small plate with a few mini-sandwiches sat on the other side. She was resting her head on her arms, propped up by her knees, with her wheels sitting on top of the step below her. Nearby on the pavement was a umbrella-covered table, shading Electra, Caboose, and Volta and their snacks from the rays of the sun.

"Can ya blame them? Rusty'd been out for a least a few days, and Pearl was non-stop worried about him from what I hear," Caboose quipped, sipping from a soda can. "Then again, Buffy didn't exactly make things better with how she explained his condition..."

"The buffet car's always been one for dramatics." Volta tapped her finger on a nearby plate half filled with mini-sandwiches, taking one in her dark-gloved hand. "But you're correct, you can't really blame them.. The two were practically made for each other." She bit one in half, laying the other half on her napkin.

"Yeah, Buffy wasn't too happy with him, I heard," Dinah laughed. "Rusty's always been stubborn as a mule, but Buffy's 'bout as hard-headed as he is!"

Electra stretched out in his chair, part of his mohawk gleaming as it was exposed to the sun. "I'm surprised the rusted nut's even still alive, personally... Was it really just a cold he had?"

Volta nodded her head, a firm grace among her movements. "Wrench told me that's all it was. It was only as bad as it was because he hadn't gone to see her about it when it first hit."

"Figures," he muttered. "The boy gets repairs done to fix the rust damage, and he nearly offs himself with a simple case of spring fever... He really is a nutcase."

"The same nutcase that beat you in the final," Caboose whistled under his breath, before backing away quickly from a swipe that would've literally shocked him senseless.

"Only because of YOU, you fritzy little insect!"

Dinah giggled, her blonde curls bouncing in the hair net that kept them in shape. "But I wonder what had him so worried before he got sick... Never seen him so wound up in so long..."

"Maybe the grease-trap insulted his manufacturer?" Electra laughed, sitting up from his reclined position.

"Nah, I figure you're enough of an insult to them already." Greaseball had rolled around from the front of the diner, slowing to a stop next to Dinah as he bent down and kissed her on the cheek. He took the free chair from the table and pulled it over to sit next to her.

"Watch it, oil slick. I'm not up for your jovial jabs today."

"Calm yourself, hard drive. Anyone could see that from a mile away," the diesel laughed, throwing a piece of candy at the electric engine, who caught it with no effort but sat it on the table. "So what's the news on the steamer? Any better or any worse?"

"Pearly says he's doin' a little better with the medicine, and Wrench says it's just a hard-boiled case of the cold." Dinah took off the hair net, patting her curls to make sure they were in place. "I had Belle take over a pot of the stew I made earlier in case their tummies got hungry."

"Cool deal then. And how about his other problem?"

"What other problem?"

"Y'know, that thing about Sofa."

"Sofa?" Electra's head perked up, a blank look on his glittering face. "Who's Sofa?"

"You mean Sofia? She's a new coach," Caboose said, taking a bite of one of the mini-sandwiches. "She was one of the coaches Rusty worked with earlier this week."

"What kind of coach is she?"

"She's a third-class sleeper, but she can convert to seating mode in case a train needs a chair car. I think she's been here before but I don't know the who-"

Caboose was interrupted by the sounds of a chair clattering to the ground. He turned to find the electric engine standing with an odd look on his face.

"... You alright, spark plug?" Greaseball stood up and rolled over to the red-and-blue engine, but suddenly was pushed away, stopping himself before he rolled into his girlfriend. "Who leaked in your outlet?!"

But Electra couldn't hear anything. "That damn carriage! If I get my hands on her I'm gonna-"

"Electra!" The engine looked up with flashing eyes into the face of his former component, who had moved to position right in front of him and laid her hands on his chest; the cold temperature of her cooling system helped to calm down the overheating engine's circuit board. "What's wrong?"

"I..." Electra looked around to the others; Caboose had stood up and rolled away from the table, while Greaseball stood defensively in front of Dinah, who looked close to tears, her glass of juice being accidentally knocked over when Greaseball had been pushed back. "My... apologies...," he fumbled with the words, a look of hurt and anger still on his face. "I..."

"What is it about Sofia that... makes you that upset?" The question came from Dinah, who was peeking over Greaseball's shoulder from the highest step. Her eyes were still glassy like she was not far from crying, but they had an unmistakeably curious look to them.

Electra hesitated to say something. As Volta moved back to her seat, he slowly picked the chair back up from the ground, and instead leaned against the back of it with his hand. Caboose moved back to his seat, eyeing the engine with a look of uncertainty; one that didn't go un-noticed when he realized that Volta was staring back at him with a look that made him aware of the hypocrisy of that simple action.

"I... have raced many times... In many yards across the world... A few times, I even... worked... as one of the yard's residing engines until their races began. Then when the races were over, I would depart. My business would be done, finished."

"Go on..."

The electric engine finally took a seat, reclining once more as the rays of the sun shone across his mohawk. "It was several years ago... At one trainyard... I got tangled up in quite the fiasco.."

The pieces of the past slowly rearranged themselves in the electric engine's computer. For reasons even he didn't know, there were parts he couldn't remember, but there was enough to tell a story that had shaken him to the core.

"I had just began work in a trainyard in Nevada. A shoddy little thing, much like the town it belonged to... But I did not care. All I wanted was to win the races they would hold in two weeks' time."

The image of a trainyard appeared in his mind. It was actually similar to how the AV trainyard looked, only in much more of a state of disrepair. Buildings were cracking at the foundations, windows were shattered and walls had been vandalized with graffiti from unforgiving human teens. At the back behind the main hall stood the depots housing each engine, truck, and coach. Each of them were in similar states of disappointment, but one in particular was of the worst shape.

"I was designated living quarters befitting a medieval servant of the lowest stature. I had only Krupp and Wrench at the time, and even they received better lodging than I did. Nevertheless, I would manage... for the time being."

The image of the trainyard faded away to form a picture of the trains that occupied the yard; a small variety of engine and cars, from young to old. They too were in a similar state of disarray, but smiles graced their faces.

"The trains there were abhorrent in their behavior towards me, spitting at my wheels every chance they got... Treating me like the Diesel that Poppa often mentions in his weekly sermons. So harsh to me and my group, I almost thought it a wiser idea to leave, but I steeled my resolve. If they were to be that way, I would rise above them... Prove them to be the scum they were.."

"... So... you didn't do the thing you did first when you came here? You didn't... pull a gravitational orbit out your shiny rear-end and steal everyone away to fawn over you?" The engine glared at the diesel, who now sat with the plate of sandwiches on his lap, a sandwich in his mouth. Greaseball only swallowed his food and laughed. "... Sorry... Go on, don't let me stop you!"

Electra humphed, but continued on. "I would've done that had I thought it necessary. But they weren't worth the effort... All of them except one, however..."

The image of a coach appeared in Electra's buzzing mind. The face is clouded, almost blurred; the outfit is odd-looking, mis-matched; a short skirt over light shorts, a gray top with darker sleeves and black gear, with a headscarf wrapped around their head.

"She was attracted to me... Without suggestion... She seeked me out to race with me of her own free will. I... humbly thanked her, but I told her I was already with a coach. I had Wrench with me after all, and I wasn't about to use Krupp to intimidate opponents I would surely beat with no effort. She was slightly upset, but she understood... Or at least seemed to..."

"What do you mean 'seemed to'?" This time, Caboose piped up. He had been listening intently, having finished his soda and now working on the sandwiches, while Volta glared him down as she defended her plate from him.

"She left seemingly in a decent mood. I assumed she'd just sit the races out, since she was clearly in need of an engine... But the races began, and I paid no mind to it, winning the first heat with no difficulty.. But then I found out... I found out she would be in the second heat, racing with one of the most bitter diesels I'd ever seen..."

An image of the race track appeared into view. It appeared as though the track had been kept in much better repair than the trainyard or the trains themselves.

"I watched the race with Krupp in the sidings... She had done better than I thought she would. Her partner came in second in that heat, meaning I would have to face her the next day... Before we left to our depots, I saw her nearing us, with a smaller coach behind her. She told me that she hoped we would be ready for tomorrow, and briskly guided the smaller coach away."

"Get to the point, spark plug. You're burnin' daylight!"

Electra shot a dirty glance towards Greaseball before leaning his bumpers on the table. "We departed to get some rest... We hoped to get a bit of it before the final, but it seemed that the so-called 'Starlight Express' didn't intend for that to happen."

He gritted his teeth as the final image came into view; a view of the trainyard, racetrack, and main hall, burned to the ground with nothing left.

* * *

The stillness of the night could've driven Rusty up a wall. Here he was, supposed to be resting still, and... he couldn't sleep. Even the comfort of freshly washed bedsheets couldn't draw him into slumber. He glanced at the clock on his bedside; was it really only 2 in the morning?

It had only been almost four hours since Belle had gone home. Poppa had stopped by to see how Rusty was doing, and received a hug and a lecture on how even though he had gotten repairs, it did not mean he was anything like Superman. But he was glad to see he was doing better, and eventually left, with Belle not far behind. Pearl had wanted to stay the night, not wanting to leave him alone, but Rusty swore he'd be fine and that he didn't want to see her get sick. It took a lot of pleading and bribing (and two bowls of double strawberry ice cream that Pearl had snuck in), but she relented and went back to her depot a little before 12.

"I can't stand this..," he mumbled out loud. The steamer sat up in his bed and looked around the room.. He couldn't see much aside from a light down the hall and the light from a spotlight outside the window. And... there was nothing. Rusty ran a hand through his hair, looking down at the blanket that covered this legs. He leaned back holding himself up with his arms and looked back out among the room.

The pitch black darkness of the room unnerved the switcher to the pits of his chest cavity. He laid back down on the bed and tried to go to sleep, before quickly sitting back up. It took him a second to realize that something was wrong. He looked long and hard and finally noticed what set everything off; he could no longer see the light from the hall or the light from outside. It was as if the power had gone out and knocked both lights out.

Rusty turned to look at the clock to see if it was still working; the red light of the digital clock read 8:13 am. "That can't be right..." He looked back towards the hallway and gasped.

Flames. Flames everywhere.

Rusty's steam grew cold as he struggled to move from his position on the bed. In his panic, he glanced outside and stopped in shock; he could see the other depots across the track being devoured by fire. But what horrified him more than that was what he could hear; above the sound of the crackling of the flames, clear as a bell ringing right next to his head, was the sounds of everyone screaming for help. Ashley, Flat-top, Purse, Espresso... Oh Starlight, he could hear Pearl's heart-wrenching pleas for help over them all... "P-please... someone.. a-anyone help!" He could hear the fear in her voice as her cries turned more desperate. Blocking his ears, Rusty looked once more to the clock; it showed was a constantly changing set of numbers. His gaze was stuck on the clock until finally the numbers stopped and flashed nothing but zeros.

An ear-piercing scream forced Rusty's attention to the hallway once more, where the flames had finally spread to his room and were closing in. He found he was able to move, but had no chance of escaping... He backed up as close as he could to the wall, trying to press further as the fire neared closer. He felt the heat, he could hardly stand it, he had to _get out_!

And then suddenly, he fell backwards. Falling, falling, feeling the heat of the fire and the cool of the wind. Before he could think of anything to do, an unseen force hit him, and he saw nothing but red and finally pure black.


	9. Peculiar Behavior

_Author's Notes: Ch. 9 brings us to the start of the ongoing storyline writing, and I can already tell it's gonna be a bit hard for me. I know what I want to do, but the means of getting there is becoming a bit hard to do. I'm not quite at Writer's Block status yet, but it's definitely been hard to figure out how to write the latter half of this chapter._

 _A thanks to those that continue to read, before I continue on, and to those that gave a review the previous chapter (the whopping two of you, ayyyy). Admittedly I wonder how some of the views on my stories come up (I get a lot of hits on here from the UK, and I'd like to think it's not from one person constantly revisiting the story several times like I do to the videos in my Youtube history), but I'm glad that the updates I post brighten up people's days or give someone a reason to not be bored._

* * *

"'Ey, Poppa... Rusty still at home?"

The rush of the morning clock-in was still strong in the air, despite it being the first day of the weekend. Despite not pulling much work for his age, Poppa still clocked in each day, lending a hand whenever needed. Today, he aided one of Greaseball's gang in taking over the freight work in Rusty's continued absence. The young diesel, Tank, was helping transport materials to their correct loading zones, with the occasional quip or complaint lodged against one of the Rockies or Flat-top. It was at break time when the diesel asked a question that had been on the mind of a few of the trains, but was surprising for one that wasn't very fond of the steam train.

"Hm?" The old steamer mumbled, having taken a seat on a nearby wooden crate, dabbing at his dark brow with a grey handkerchief. "Oh yes, he's still restin' at home.. He's much better now that he's got medicine, but Wrench wants him to take a while off before heading back to work."

Tank nodded his head, shaking a black-gloved hand through his spiky hair. "Yeah, I hear she gave him an earful for not gettin' checked up.. Must be nice to get so long off for a little cold."

"Well, he may have gotten repairs to take care of his more serious damages from the rust, but he's always been prone to gettin' real sick illness-wise.. and he only has so long off because he was too stubborn to get checked up and let his cold grow worse."

The young diesel whistled, feigning part of his concern as he got back to work. In reality, he only asked out of boredom, but was amazed that the steamer got that sick. It had been two days since Rusty got his medicine, getting better with each passing. Of course, Control wouldn't actually clear him for work until they were sure he was completely cured of the aggravated cold. But despite that, Rusty still made good on the order of getting fresh air, and could be seen after work hours riding around by himself or with Pearl or Dustin.

But Poppa was secretly worried about what else was on Rusty's mind. He'd visited the young steamer early that morning only to find him looking worse than he had the night prior. During their breakfast, Rusty told him about the nightmare he'd had; the heat of the flames that surrounded him, the screams he heard as the other units burned, the rush of the wind as he fell through the darkness... All of it had felt real to him, he told Poppa. He'd woken up only a short while before the elder steamer arrived, and Rusty couldn't figure a reason behind it. "I've tried to think of everything," he had said, resting his head upon his crossed arms on the table, "and I just... I'm lost, Poppa. I'm just lost.."

"It's just stress, boy," Poppa had told him, insinuating it was another product of the cold and his frustration towards the racing issue. Rusty had yet to talk to Sofia about the misunderstanding, and worried about it fervently, but Poppa only placed a calming hand on his shoulder. "It'll be alright. She's just busy with her work. She'll come around soon and you can explain everything to her."

"I hope you're right, Poppa." It was the only thing that Rusty could bring himself to say before clock-in time for all working trains. Poppa began to worry if part of his sickness being so bad was because of the stress grinding on his mind and nerves. It seemed likely enough, he thought, with the conditions almost un-naturally perfect...

It came to Poppa then, as he now stood in the freight yard, that maybe the Starlight had a plan for all this. "If this is your idea of a plan," the steamer mused, reaching back and scratching the back of his head, "it sure is a heck of one."

The sound of a nearby wall-mounted speaker clicking on caught the locomotive's attention. "Poppa, are you busy at the moment?" The voice of Control, loud and demanding but ever so childish, echoed over the freight yard. "We have some new trains that just arrived. Can you show them around the trainyard before they start training tomorrow?"

Late arrivals. That was a rarity in and of itself, especially considering the deadline for new resident trains this season had already passed. Poppa eased himself around to face the speaker, and nodded to himself. "Sure can, Control!"

* * *

The sun had just barely set that evening, and the lights over the main yard and tracks lit up the darkness. Even as spring had already fallen in, the chill of the passing winter season was still present, a feeling Rusty welcomed as he rolled about alone. He thanked the Starlight that he was no longer bed-ridden from the aches and pain, but even then he still had the occasional cough and sniffling. Wrench believed he'd be cleared for work soon, for which he was glad, but Rusty silently shamed himself for not being able to clear up things with Sofia yet

Well, not that he's been able to. He'd brought the issue up with Poppa before, but he just thought she was probably busy. The young steamer figured he hadn't been very clear on the subject; it wasn't that Rusty couldn't find her, it's that he couldn't _catch_ her. Every once in a while, he'd find her talking to someone at a distance, but upon reaching her location, it'd come up that she had just left, sometimes even in a hurry. It drove him up a wall in frustration and slight panic, his mind running rampant thinking that she was surely upset with him for not telling him. "It's not your fault," Pearl had told him when he expressed his worry, "she's gotta talk to you eventually. You will have to work with her at some point!" He agreed, but mentally reminded himself there was no telling how long that would be.

Rusty stopped in his tracks and yelled out in frustration. "I can't stand this! How the hell am I supposed to fix this if she keeps running from me?!" He ran a hand through his hair, suddenly realizing that he left his headband at his unit. As he kept moving he looked around at his surroundings, remembering how it had been when he was younger and going through training with the other trains.

With the other trains... Rusty stopped once more when he realized he didn't remember much of back when Sofia had been here the first time. He'd only first remembered the actual promise they made after she'd hounded him so much about it that first day. As he stood there lost in thought, more bits of memories came to him. Sofia had never actually talked to him before that time, usually being nothing more than another coach that never paid much mind to him. So it made sense that after the promise had been made, Rusty had begun to notice Sofia a bit more, occasionally seeing her about the yard when the kids had recess at the school they trained at. He'd see her milling about with the other chatty coaches, laughing at the freight boys goofing off or fawning over the bigger engines. She'd flirt with Greaseball just as the other coaches would, admire his muscles with wide-eyes wonder, agree with no hesitation when anyone said he'd be the best of the best...

He didn't get it. Even now, he still didn't get it. Sure, Sofia tried to cheer him up that day, but WHY did she even agree to racing with him if she still believed that he couldn't even win against someone like Greaseball? Why encourage it to begin with?

"Because it's fair." That's what she said back then.

No. It wasn't fair. Fair is two kids each getting two equal-sized scoops of ice cream on a cone and being able to eat it with no problem. Fair is all kids getting to go an extra round on one of those carnival rides that would surely make you throw up your lunch from earlier.

Fair is two engines being able to move and race in equal power without the fear of rust eventually overtaking your ability to move and function properly. This was not fair.

And yet somehow, here Rusty stood, able to say "I beat Greaseball in a race" even in his rusted state. No one could say that, let alone anyone with rust issues like his. And what did that prove? It proved that anyone could do anything if they truly believed in themselves, that's what it proved! Granted, he knew the Starlight was with him that day, so yeah, he quite didn't do it all by himself. But still, Rusty beamed, because it was something he was proud of!

So lost in his thoughts was the steamer that he didn't notice the sound of wheels in motion, so when the mystery car placed a hand on their shoulder, it took Rusty by such surprise that he whirled around far too quickly and knocked himself off his wheels. He hit the ground with a thud, and looked up to find himself face to face with a truck clad in silver and dark blue. She almost blended in with the darkness had it not been for the bright red-and-white mohawk she sported.

"For the love of Starlight, Joule, what did we tell you about sneaking up on people?" Rusty rubbed his elbow, having landed on it when he fell. "No one's a fan of things like that!"

Joule pouted, her features almost cat-like underneath her makeup. "Well, can you blame me? You were just standing around with a dumb look on your face, so someone had to see if you were alright! You were just lucky enough it was me that found you instead of Krupp!" She grinned, playing with one of her earrings. "What are you doing wandering around so late anyway?"

Rusty sat up, minding how sore his body felt from hitting the ground. "I was just getting some fresh air. It's what your associate thought I should get after being so sick. And what are you doing out so late? Volta says you're usually sleeping like a rain-soaked log after work."

"I just wanted to go for a stroll, that's all! But if you're so worried, maybe you should stroll with me," Joule said, bending over and poking Rusty on the shoulder. "That way, I can tell the others that I wasn't out by myself like I'm not supposed to be!"

Rusty stood up, brushing dirt off his clothes. "And what if I don't want to? If you should be at your unit, then you should go back there!"

"Then I'll just latch on to your couplers and make you drag me around!" Much like Wrench and Volta, Joule had developed a new part of her personality after joining the trainyard. Almost begrudgingly, she became something like an annoying little sister to many of the freight trains, especially Rusty. But despite the earlier dislike he'd had, Rusty didn't mind it; it was basically like dealing with another Buffy, only with a more explosive temperament.

"Yeah, I don't see that happening, Jou-" He moved to leave until he felt something holding him back; looking back, he found that Joule had already grabbed hold of his couplers and was on her breaks. The steamer huffed and rolled his eyes, scratching his head in irritation. "Alright, fine! You can roll with me, but if I say I'm done for the night, then you're going back to your unit!" Joule grinned and stood back up, and the two kicked off into motion again.

It had only been a few moments of relatively normal conversation until Joule's curiosity got the better of her. "So... what's this thing about Sofia that's got you so wound up?"

Rusty almost contemplated stopping right then and leaving her mid-route, but thought better of it. "What's it to you? And how do you even know about it?"

"Well, Wrench knew about it because Belle told her, and Volta says Caboose knew something about it-"

"That's enough of that," Rusty hissed. Gone for only a few days and now almost everyone knew about what happened. He couldn't help but think it'd be great if gossip didn't exist in this world. "It's nothing major, it's just that there was a miscommunication somewhere and I just want to clear things up with her. That's all."

"That's it?" Joule blinked, and tried to stifle a laugh. "And that's why you got sick so bad?"

"No no, that's because I didn't go see Wrench about getting sick. That's why the sickness got so bad."

"So then why is the Sofia thing so important?"

"Joule, did you just come along so you could be nosy?!"

"What~? It's all the buzz here, so I was just wondering... Besides, Sofia's been acting kinda weird too, like she hasn't been saying much to anyone when we work, so I figured it must be pretty big if even she's not being chatty!"

Rusty stopped in his tracks and looked back at Joule, a hint of worry on his face. "Is she really acting that weird?"

"Well, when she had her first few days, she was really talky-talky non-stop almost, but the past few days, she's been kinda keeping to herself, being really withdrawn." Joule crossed her arms. "You didn't hurt her feelings, did you?"

"If I did, it sure seems like a late reaction to it," Rusty said, rubbing his temple. "If she's been acting like that since after I got sick, I don't know why she'd be that upset..."

"Want me to find out?"

"NO." Joule raised an eyebrow at the steamer's response, and Rusty shook his head. "I mean, there's no need to. I still have to talk to her, so I might as well ask her what's bothering her so much..."

Joule tapped the tip of her nose thoughtfully as they started moving again, trying to find a reason why any girl would be that upset. "Hmmm... Maybe she's heartbroken? Or jealous, even?"

Rusty's face blanched as he suddenly halted and turned back to face Joule. "Jealous?! Of who?"

"Oh I dunno," Joule mused, "maybe... Pearl? I mean, she does get to race with you this year, and she is your girlfriend, and Sofia was wanting to race with you but can't, so it makes sense... right?"

"No it doesn't," Rusty said, lightly slamming a palm on his forehead. "There's no way she'd be jealous over something like that. If anything I'd think she would be glad she wouldn't have to! I have a partner, so there's no need for her to keep her end of the promise!"

"But we don't know for sure!" Joule bounced up and down, oddly gleeful about the idea that the sleeping car might have a thing for the steamer. "I mean, if she really didn't care about the promise, she wouldn't have come back here, right? Don't tell me you honestly don't think that-"

"Alright, I'm done!" Rusty huffed loudly, uncoupling Joule and turning to face her. "She just wanted to fulfill the promise, that's all. It doesn't matter, anyway, because I'm racing with Pearl, so that's all there is to it! And I'm gonna find her tomorrow and explain this all to her, and she'll understand, and everything will be okay!"

"But-"

"That's all! Go ahead and go back to your unit now, and good night!" With that, Rusty turned and headed back to the units. Joule stood in the silence of the night for a moment before making her way to her own unit.


	10. A Dash of Drama

_Author's Notes: Ch. 10! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAnd I'm still surprised I'm still going. Oops. At this point, I'm glad to announce that I do have a rough idea of how I want the story to continue on and how I want it to go in the final few chapters. That's not saying it'll be ending in the next few chapters, as there's a few more things that need to happen before that point; I just have a basic outline going on. Now that I've got this chapter cranked out, it should be easier to work out the next few and go from there. So HOPEFULLY, between this and everything else on my writing plate, I won't fall back behind on it._

 _We've also got one reference going to the Mexican production of Starlight Express; dat Polanco theater hnnnng._

 _If you like what you read, leave a fave or a review! I like hearing from you guys, I want to know what you like or don't like! :D_

* * *

Pearl bustled around her bedroom getting ready for the day's work that next morning, fixing her hair and gathering her things for the day. She fussed with her hair, usually either cascading down her back in loose curls or straight as an arrow, but today all it wanted to be was frizzy and uncooperative. She debated just leaving it as it was when she heard the doorbell to her unit go off. "Oh, coming!" She sped to the living room, figuring it was Greaseball and Dinah here to pick her up. Opening the door, she instead found Sofia at the door, her own bag in hand. "Sofia, I didn't know you got up this early!"

Sofia simply smiled and shifted her bag on her shoulders. "Oh, I usually don't... I actually came here because I wanted to chat with you a bit before work, if that was okay..?"

Pearl nodded her head, and moved to allow Sofia into the room. "No, I don't mind at all! Please, come right in." Sofia obliged and made her way over to a nearby loveseat, setting her stuff beside her on the cushion. Pearl took a seat on a big dark purple leather chair, and tossed a lock of her unobliging hair behind her shoulder. "So, how do you like it here at the AV? Pretty neat, huh?"

"Oh yeah, I've grown to love it here," Sofia agreed as she played with the hem of her skirt. "Everyone's so nice and they've been really helpful with teaching me how everything works here."

"That's great!" Pearl bounced in her seat. "I knew you'd love it here. I was just about the same as you when I first came here, just as shy but I wanted to make as many friends as I could. Then I met Rusty, Dinah, and the other coaches, and the rest is history." She leaned back in her chair and sighed. "It's nothing like my old trainyard, thought. Where'd you transfer from?"

"Oh, it's just a small trainyard from somewhere in Mexico... It was called the Polanco Trainyard."

"Was it nice down there?"

"Yeah, it was pretty nice, but it wasn't what I considered home, I guess..."

"What do you mean?" Sofia looked up towards Pearl, and the observation coach could see that there were tears forming in the sleeper's eyes. Pearl's heart stirred; she didn't mean to make her cry! "Oh Sofia, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to say something that upset you!"

"It's alright," Sofia whispered, wiping tears away as they streamed down her face. "It's just... It's been hard to forget about what happened back then... With that horrible, horrible fire.."

"A fire?"

Sofia's head slowly rose as she wiped the remainder of her tears away. "Yes... my old trainyard was destroyed in a fire a few years ago... The main hall, the repair garages, even the units all burned down. So many trains didn't make it that night..."

"That's horrible, how could such a thing happen?!"

* * *

"Greaseball! Come on, we're gonna be late for clock-in, and we ain't even gone by Pearl's place yet!"

Dinah tapped her toe-stop impatiently against the door-jamb as she stood in the bedroom door. As per the usual in their relationship, she woke up early enough to make breakfast for the two of them, then got ready in the spare bathroom in Greaseball's unit. Today, however, Greaseball was having a hard time getting his hair to sit right, even with the large amount of hair grease that he used to style it.

"I AM TRYING, WOMAN. My hair just ain't cooperatin' with me right now!" The diesel tried to smooth one side into position while combing the other side into its place; normally it would work perfectly, but his thick abundance of hair was not having it today and refused to set in style. He threw the comb against the sink in anger, bouncing it from the drain back towards the shower behind him, and ran both hands over and against his dark mane, slicking it back into place. He looked pleased with it until one stubborn lock of hair popped back up and hung over his eyes. A jumble of expletive words erupted from his mouth until his girlfriend hollered his name in warning.

The two exited Greaseball's unit in a huff, a headband hastily fastened around the engine's cranium, and headed down the units as quickly as they could. Dinah held onto his couplers with one expert hand, an apple in her other with bags hanging from her shoulders. "Greasy, I told you ya should've gotten that other hair gel if you knew it worked better! Tank doesn't know quality hair products from the gunk that generates in between his wheels!" She bit off another piece of the apple, chewing and swallowing it quickly. "Though I bet you're overdue for another haircut already!"

"D, I am NOT in the mood for your fashion advice," Greaseball called back, trying hard not to grind his teeth. "I already feel stupid enough havin' to wear this damn thing on my head, it makes me look like Rustbucket trying to get ready for picture day back in training school!" A resounding smack from behind made Greaseball flinch and wave a hand back behind him. "And I don't appreciate bein' told my head look's like a duck's ass-end this early in the morning!"

"Oh come on, I bet if we just go back to the store and get you that old gel you used last time, it'll look like ya never had a bad hair day in your life," Dinah laughed as they made their way to Pearl's unit's porch. But the dining car's laughter ceased as they neared the door; from behind the wooden barrier, they could hear the sounds of crying from inside. "Pearly?" Dinah knocked on the door quickly, listening for any odd sounds. Something clicked from inside, and the door swung open to reveal a tear-stricken Pearl, her hair in a half-curled/half-frizzy mess and her makeup running down her face.

"I-I'm sorry, D-Dinah..," Pearl sobbed, holding a handful of tissues in her gloved hands. "I-I was ready and w-waiting..."

* * *

Just two hours into the workday, it had already proven itself to be a very slow one for some of the coaches. Dinah found herself at the trains' loading station with Ashley and Pearl, cleaning their cars while Turnov and Princey played assorted games to make the day go by. Having cleaned the inside of hers already, she was now focusing on the kitchen area, washing dishes and countertops with a well-practiced ease. As she bustled about, she heard bits of conversation through an open window by her sink, laughing to herself as she noted who exactly it came from.

"... You wretched git! .. "

"... I'll be damned! ..."

"... Electra-... burned it down! ..."

Dinah's head perked up as she heard Electra's name mentioned.

"Burned it- the whole thing?"

"Yes! The whole thing!"

As she listened closer, she could distinctly tell who was speaking; it was Pearl talking, lightly and quietly as if it was confidential information. She sat her sponge down as she quietly moved to dry her hands and put her gloves back on. Quickly, she moved to the door of her kitchen and slowly opened it, trying not to make any noise. Stepping outside, she silently moved to where she could hear the conversation better, just below one of the windows of Ashley's car.

"- But I don't get it, Pearl," Ashley countered, blowing smoke away from her friend's face, "who would gain anything from burning a whole trainyard down?"

Pearl sat in a chair, leaned back and playing with a lock of hair. "I don't know... I mean, I want to believe that no one is that crazy... But... We don't really know Electra all that well... Maybe he's been upset enough to do that?"

"Really? A whole trainyard, Pearl. A WHOLE TRAINYARD."

"SHHH! Not so loud! I don't want anyone else to know about this yet.."

"Pearl, I know this is shocking for you, but I doubt Electra's the type to torch a full-sized yard over some inane shit as possibly losing a race."

"Well he was the type to attack me during the final last year-"

"He was also the type to charm you away from Rusty..."

"Ashley, this is serious!" Pearl sat up, accidentally slamming a hand on the table beside her. "If he's that dangerous, shouldn't we warn Control about it?! He took care of Caboose, can't he take care of Electra too?"

Ashley sighed, putting out her half-finished cigarette as Pearl rubbed her now sore hand. "I think you're forgetting that if Electra was that type of engine, he would've already set this entire yard aflame by now and last year's final would've been gone in moments!"

Dinah strained to hear more of what they were saying, but didn't want to risk being caught by either of them. She was crouched below the window on her toe-stops when a hand came to rest on her shoulder, catching her by surprise. She yelled out in surprise and turned round quickly to face the person behind her, shooting out a balled-up fist and connecting it with their face as she fell to the ground. The sudden commotion caught the attention of Pearl and Ashley, who quickly headed to the window to see what happened. Dinah regained her thoughts quickly, fearing she had been caught, and looked up to find she had socked Caboose right in the nose. He was now on the ground with Volta right behind him, who now looked at Dinah with pure shock in her pale features. Looking towards the window, she also found Pearl and Ashley staring down at her with confused looks on their faces. Her face was growing hot, and she had to act quickly. "OH! Caboose, I'm so sorry!" Dinah quickly got up and rushed to Caboose's side, helping him up. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to smack ya right in the face! Are you alright?"

"Yeah," Caboose mumbled, making a few pained faces and wincing at the pain, "I didn't mean to sneak up on you like that... What were you doing here tho-"

"I- FOUND IT!" Dinah quickly bent down and acted as if she picked something up off the ground, then stood back up glancing at everyone. "I was looking for my ring! I knocked it out the window by accident while I was washin' dishes... Oh gosh, CB, your nose is bleedin'!"

The brake truck brought a hand up to his nose and looked at it. "Is it?"

"Well don't just stand there! Get in the car, I got a first-aid kit in there!" Dinah started pushing Caboose and Volta towards the diner car door. "I think I even have a tampon in my bag if it's serious!"

"Dinah, I don't think I-"

"GET IN THE CAR, CABOOSE." Volta's stern voice rang into Caboose's ear with sudden intensity.

"Y-yes, ma'am!"

* * *

After the three were inside, Dinah went to shut the window beside the sink. Finding that Pearl and Ashley had gone back to chatting, she closed it and shut the door on the opposite end.

"D, I don't think my nose is bleeding at all..." Caboose blew his nose into a tissue to make sure. "See, there's no- oh, well there is a little bit of blood..."

Volta leaned against the fridge with her arms crossed. "That was quite a show you put on out there... What's go you so high-strung all of a sudden?"

Dinah raised a finger to her lips as she went to a drink cooler and pulled out three sodas. Opening one and taking a drink of it, she motioned for them to go sit out in the seating portion of the car. As Volta and Caboose took a seat at the bar, Dinah unfolded a seat behind the bar and sat down, sighing heavily as she handed a drink to each of them. "Do you guys remember what Electra told us about that one trainyard..? The one that burned down?"

Caboose nodded his head, taking a sip of his soda. "Yeah... That's some pretty scary stuff. But what about it?"

Dinah scratched behind her ear. "I heard Pearl talking to Ashley... I don't know everything they were talking about, but she was saying Electra burned the trainyard down!"

"But Pearl wasn't there when we heard the story," Volta said. "And Electra had us all promise we wouldn't tell anyone what he told us. You haven't said anything, have you?"

"I haven't," Dinah shook her head. "Have you, CB?"

"Not a peep."

Volta tapped her finger on the top of the soda can. "Then that only leaves Greaseball-"

"-and he'd been with me the whole morning until we got to work." Dinah sipped on her soda. "He was with me when we stopped by Pearl's place to get her on the way here... She looked like she'd been bawling up a storm when we got there!"

"Did she say why?"

"She wouldn't say a thing! Usually she'd tell me if something was wrong, but today she just kinda said she'd been watching a sad movie waitin' for us, but..."

"... Well, that's not totally unreasonable," Caboose murmured.

"It's not, but it didn't sound right..." Dinah fiddled with the pop tab on her can. "It sounded more like she was fibbin', trying to hide somethin'..."

"You don't think she found out about the story from Sofia, do you?" Volta opened her can, grimacing at the fizzing of the carbonated drink. "Aside from Electra, she's the only one that would know about it, and we know that Electra won't just willingly tell people about something like that."

"I don't know," Dinah admitted. "She seems like a sweet gal- don't get me wrong -but I don't know her all that well. I only talked to her a few times since she's been here."

"Duvay says she was really surprised to find out that Rusty and Pearl were dating..." Caboose mused. "Don't know why, most people can spot that a mile away-"

"Well yeah, I forgot about that! ... Ohhh, but I doubt that has anything to do with it."

Volta took a long swig of her soda and sat the can on the bar. "It might not, but we need to remember she supposedly came back for that promise she made with Rusty. And we don't know if she intends to keep it by any means necessary."

"Surely she's not that reckless!" Dinah waved a hand in the air. "I know this yard's had its fair share of reckless trains, but I can't imagine why someone would want to wreck a perfectly good relationship just to do something like-" Dinah went silent as Volta and Caboose stared her down, their faces settled into a grim look that couldn't quite be placed. Finally she finished off her drink, throwing the empty can into a nearby trash can, and took a deep breath. "... Let's just agree that we can't tell anyone of what we know. Not of Electra's story, or of what I told you two... We need to wait and see what happens."


	11. Playing Dirty

_Author's Notes: And the plot keeps ROLLIN ROLLIN ROLLIN ROLLIN ROLLIN. AND THEN STUFF HAPPENS._ _So now we get back to plot at hand. I'm sure the timeline regarding Rusty's sickness sounds like a clusterfuzzle, but I'm sure we can agree that Control would be picky af about it since Rusty's the top dawg right now in the races by pure chance- IMEAN BY SKILL. OF COURSE I MEAN BY SKILL._

 _But hey, at least we get one more important character in... :D_

* * *

The bright morning sun shone over the trainyard as the trains headed in for morning clock-in, and with it the promise of a good day for some. Rusty hoped that it would be the case for him as he rolled to the main hall, ready to get back to work. It had been a bit longer than they'd anticipated for his sickness to clear up, but Control had finally OK-ed him for work at the insistence of Belle, who nagged on Control for letting him sit out so long when things needed to be done.

The steamer didn't mind the break all that bad, but he was just excited to get back to work despite not yet being able to find Sofia. He finally admitted to himself that she was truly avoiding him and that he wouldn't be able to talk to her until they had to work together on a run. Of course, now that he was free to work, it also meant he was free to practice for the races, which meant he and Pearl would have to start making time for their training as well.

But he felt bad still, he admitted; out of desire to not see her be so upset, Rusty had debated to let Sofia race with him - maybe Pearl would've understood. But he'd been waiting for this for a year now, and he wasn't about to give that up again. But at the same time, he hated to have anyone be upset towards him (Greaseball and his gang were a different story), and there was that promise. What good was there in making a promise if you couldn't keep it? Rusty cursed his conscience for being so good-moraled as he made it up the steps to the hall and went inside, heading towards the clock-in desk. Greeting the coach at the desk and signing in, he didn't notice someone roll up behind him as he punched his card in until he backed into them. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't- oh." Turning to face the train, he stopped short as he found Sofia behind him, holding a stack of papers with some of them now on the hall floor. "Sorry... I didn't see you back there.."

"It's alright...," Sofia laughed half-heartedly, rubbing a shoulder, "I kinda zoned out a bit... Did Control finally clear you for work today?"

"Yeah... About time, I was getting a bit cabin-feverish..." Rusty adjusted his hat nervously. Of course she'd show up now, he thought.. Granted it was morning clock-in, but still, the irony wasn't lost on him. "It's not that great to be stuck at home all the time." Seeing the papers on the ground, he knelt down to pick them up and gathered them into a neat stack.

"I bet," Sofia agreed, brushing back a loose lock of her hair. She held what was left of her papers close to her chest. "The whole yard's been wondering when you'd come back to work. I really think they missed you!"

"I'm sure they did," Rusty chuckled as he stood back up. He re-shifted the papers in his arms, glancing down at them for a few seconds. "... Are these new trains?"

"Huh?"

"These look like the trainyard's registration papers for new entries." Rusty was familiar with the paperwork, having helped with sorting out boxes upon boxes of paperwork before he'd been able to race a long time ago. "Did we get more trains in?"

"Oh uh, yeah... A few new guys came in a day or two ago," Sofia confirmed, rubbing a toestop into the granite-set flooring. "I think it was Poppa that took them on a tour of the trainyard when they first arrived."

"Really? Then who's gonna do the training with them?" Rusty asked, handing the papers back to Sofia as he turned to place his punch card back in his slot.

"You are, actually." Rusty turned back quickly at the sound of Control's voice coming out from a nearby speaker. It was easy to forget that there were enough speakers around the trainyard that Control could hear just about anything that he wanted to. "I wanted to wait until you were well enough to work for their training to start."

"That seems a bit odd to throw the training back onto me after that's what got me sick in the first place," Rusty retorted back, a little miffed at finding this out only minutes after clocking in.

"Maybe," Control started, "but most of the major runs that were open have been either cancelled or already taken, so you're stuck here until something comes up that needs a good engine."

"Of course you'd say that-"

"Don't think I've forgotten about your win last year, Rusty. You might be champion, but you do still have limits... Also Belle would tear me a new ear hole if she knew I'd thrown you onto a cross-continent run right after having the flu."

"Glad to see she's still worried," Rusty chuckled, a bit red in the face. "Anything I need to know before we start? Like if anyone's sick again..?"

"Not this time. Everyone's cleared for run training, since we had time to get physicals over with. This time it's all coaches, so Belle will take up their centric training after you're through."

"Good to know." Rusty nodded his head as he started towards the exit of the main hall. He had just reached the door when Sofia called out among the bustle of the other trains.

"Good luck, Rusty!"

* * *

"Quite the assortment we've got here this time, huh?" A group of trains now stood in training yard, ready to start their first day of practice. In front of them, Rusty sat beside Belle, who now had the paperwork he had seen earlier on a clipboard in her hands. Belle had her sunglasses on, shielding her eyes from the bright morning sun. "We didn't have near as many coaches last time," she yawned, covering her mouth with a red gloved hand.

"Yeah," the steamer nodded. "I wonder why we've got so many now.." Earlier he'd thought that this time wouldn't be so difficult, but his hope had started to fade when he'd seen just how many there were that were young. Many of them looked as though they'd just gotten out of secondary training and were just joining the working roster. _They're like babies_ , he'd thought to himself, _only with less drool and more... chattering_. Something he hadn't quite expected was the amount of attention he'd be getting, with a few of the girls gazing at him as if he were a movie star. As Belle read off a list of instructions to him, he could catch one of the girls staring at him, and when he'd glance up, they'd quickly look away and giggle with the others. He thanked the locomotive upstairs that he already had a coach of his own, lucky that she was past that stage where she gazed at engines like him and-

"RUSTY." The hard smack of the clipboard hitting his shoulder brought him back to reality, as he turned to find Belle staring at him with a serious look on her face, while the coaches giggled amongst themselves. "Do you have anything to say before we start the runs?"

Rusty shook his head, rubbing his shoulder as it stung. "N-not really... I just hope that we'll all be able to have fun, and hopefully you'll come to love working here at the Apollo Victoria!"

* * *

The training runs started as each coach took turns riding behind Rusty around the tracks of the training yard. He was amazed at some of the kinds of cars they now had; a set of twin casino cars from Las Vegas, a bar coach from New York, a library car from India, a theater car from France, and a double-decker observation carriage from the UK. And each of them more talkative than the last. He'd almost though he wouldn't hear the end of it until he reached a dark-clad coach. She seemed oddly-designed; a gray-green top with dark green/black sleeves paired with a light brown skirt over tan shorts and black leggings, while a white headscarf was wrapped around her head, holding black hair onto multiple curlers. Rusty paid no mind, actually liking the silence as she coupled on and began their run. It stayed quiet even as they finished their run and the remaining coaches prepared for their turns.

At the end, the coaches were allowed to mill about until released for lunch break, when they all dispersed before returning for their coach-centric training. Rusty had just exited the training yard when he heard the sounds of someone calling his name. He turned to find a few of the coaches nearing him, close together as they each came to a stop beside him. In front was the library coach, clad in shades of green, with her dark hair held back by a green bow and a small book in her hands. "Yes..? Is something wrong?"

The library car shook her head nervously, the theater car behind her peeking over her shoulder. "No... nothing is wrong... We were actually t-talking about something.."

"About what?"

"Um... is it t-true? Are you... really the trainyard's champion engine?"

Rusty breathed a sigh. "Well, I am... What about it?"

"The girls were w-wondering-," the theater car nudged her from behind, "-well, I was wondering too, I guess... Do you have... a p-partner for this year's race?"

Rusty scratched at the side of his nose. "Oh I do, actually.. Her name is-"

"It's my sister, actually." The girls turned around to see the dark-clad coach from earlier right behind them. In her hands was a lit cigarette, smoke emanating from the end of it. "Don't you girls know? He's already taken, clearly."

The girls whined in near unison, but Rusty was far too dumbfounded to console them. He did not want to believe it, but he had heard exactly what she'd just said. The growing feeling of dread in his boiler hit as hard as a cold blizzard wind.

"But that's not fair! How can he already have someone picked out?!" One of the casino cars whined, oblivious to the steamer's increasing silent panic.

"Simple, sweetie," the dark-clad coach breathed. "You were just too slow in getting here. He's got better things to do than race with any of you doe-eyes dearies." The coach rolled past them, a trail of smoke floating up and away, leaving the others in a haze of despair.

* * *

"Hey! I'm trying to talk to you!"

Following the end of the workday, trains had scattered to their units as a light rain descended upon the trainyard. Rusty was still scrambling for answers when he spotted the coach from earlier entering into the main hall. Following in after her, he was relieved to find that there wasn't anyone else in the hall save for an elder carriage working on some of the paperwork from the major runs completed.

The coach slowly stopped and snuffed out her cigarette on the hall's floor. "What is it, steam train? I've got places to be, y'know.."

"You know very well what's going on," Rusty huffed. Her attitude made him sick, he couldn't believe how arrogant she seemed in contrast to earlier. "Who are you? And who's this sister I'm supposedly racing with?"

"Oh come on, steamer, shouldn't you be smarter than this?" The coach brushed a stray curl out of her face. "You know my sister, she's the one you promised to race with this year."

"The only one I promised to race with is Pearl," Rusty shot back, "and I know for a fact that she doesn't have a sister at all. At least, not someone like you.."

The coach breathed in through her teeth, mocking a pained feeling. "Ooh, how angry now.. Let me jog your memory then, nuthead. You promised my sister a long time ago you'd race with her, and YOU'RE going to make good on that promise."

Rusty adjusted his hat, feeling the steam's pressure building up. "I already told you I have someone else to race with-"

"Cassie!" A blur of grey sped past Rusty and hit the other coach with sounds of squealing, the two coaches spinning in unison before coming to a stop. A black and white visor now laid on the floor, where one of them bent over to pick it up.

"Oh Sofia, you're so excitable." The dark-clad coach, now known as Cassie, readjusted her headwrap, giving the visor back to her sister, who affixed it back onto her head. "I told you I'd make it here, didn't I?"

"I'm so glad you could make it!" Sofia bounced with glee at getting to see Cassie again, before realizing that Rusty was still standing in front of them. "Oh, sorry... Rusty, this is my sister Cassie... She's a convertible car just like me, only a sleeper/lounge car instead of a sleeper/observation car. She was a few years ahead of us!"

Rusty stood with his hands to his head; he was NOT ready for this. "I get that whole sister bit... But I don't remember seeing her here when you were here."

"Well, she was pretty busy when we were in school," Sofia continued. "But I'm sure you can remember her; everyone used to call her 'Chaise' for all the fold-out lounge chairs she had!"

"No, actually, I don't remember her."

"Never mind all that." Cassie had already lit another cigarette and placed it between her lips, lighting it with a lighter that she placed back into her headwrap. "Sofia's telling me you aren't wanting to race with her, even though you made that promise back then. You chickening out now or what?"

"Look," Rusty huffed, "I've already got a coach of my own. The promise included 'if I don't have a race partner'. Which I have! Even Sofia knows that!"

Cassie looked to Sofia with a raised eyebrow. "Does he really have a coach of his own?"

Sofia's face reddened quickly. "Well, yeah..."

"See? I do have one!"

"... But she's not as innocent as she seems."

Rusty's face dropped. "...What?"

Cassie removed the cigarette from her mouth, the end of it stained with red lipstick. "What do you mean?"

Sofia shrugged her shoulders. "She's just... She's more the type that really gets around, y'know?"

Cassie pondered this for a second, then her eyes widened. "Ohh, is this the same coach that said she was looking for her 'dream train'?"

"Well, yeah, it is.." Sofia leaned her head onto Cassie's shoulder, looking towards Rusty with wide, doe-like eyes. "Rusty, she really did hurt you, didn't she?"

Rusty's eyes widened as he realized what they were doing. "W-We've moved past that! We both admitted we did wrong, so there's no need to bring that back up!"

"You don't need to defend her, Rusty," Sofia continued. "She had no reason to go race with those other engines... She should've known that a promise is a promise.."

"I've already told you-"

"And who's to say she won't up and leave you for someone else?" Cassie added. "If she's done it once before, she may do it again!"

"I'm not listening to this!" Rusty spun around on his wheels and headed for the doors, Cassie and Sofia still in their place. "I'm racing with Pearl this year, and that's final!" Exiting out the building, he sped towards the units in the rain, now coming down in heavy sheets. He didn't care that he'd have to dry off when he got home, he just wanted to see Pearl, to get all the nasty things they'd said out of his mind. Now he didn't care about whether or not Sofia's feelings had been hurt; it was clear that there was a lot more going on, and he wanted no part of it.

He neared the steps to Pearl's unit and knocked on the door, first once, then twice, then a few more times. Feeling even more frustrated, he used the spare key he had to her unit and let himself in. He went inside to find all the lights off and the house empty, adding to his growing frustration for the day's sudden events. He left the unit, locking the door behind him and went to Dinah's, knocking on her door impatiently. The door swiftly opened to reveal Greaseball munching on a sandwich with a half-sleepy look on his face. "Uhh... Hey, Greaseball...?"

"Dinah's not here, steamer...," the diesel replied, taking another bite of the sandwich. He'd been watching TV while eating, having been asleep for a good bit of the program until his own stomach decided it needed refueling. "And she damn sure wouldn't like you soppin' wet in her house. What's got your briefs in a knot?"

"You wouldn't happen to know where Pearl is, would you?" Greaseball could hear the upset tones in Rusty's voice. "I really need to see her, I have to talk to her-"

"You didn't hear? Both she and Dinah got sent on a run today with the French train. They've gone to New Mexico and won't be back for a day or two, I think.."

"You're kidding..."

"Nah, not kiddin'." Greaseball had been hoping to get back to his TV show, but seeing the steamer basically fall into a pile on the doorstop made him think otherwise. "... Want a sandwich?"


	12. Secrets All Around

_Author's Notes: Not much to say here except for a lot of secret keeping. I only recently got more of the plot mapped out, so now it's just trying to piece them together in a reasonable way. One might note that after the previous events, the characters would be a lot more sensible regarding these things, but that's where the drama comes in; it's that kind of deconstruction of character development that makes this story challenging. It's also a work-out to get the characters to interact with one another to show that development and how it's tested. (ie: Volta working with Dinah and Caboose, Wrench dealing with Flat-top in Lucky Tonight)_

 _I also don't know if I previously named the trainyard that's centric in the story, but it's a reference to the Las Vegas production. I'd like to slip in references to other productions' theaters, but it's hard when a fair bit of them are from tours, so instead we get the few permanent names like Apollo-Victoria, Gershwin, Hilton, and Teatro Polanco..._

* * *

The heat of the day's sunlight still resonated off the earth as Pearl and Dinah went to bed back in New Mexico. It was long past quitting time, and many of the trains were long since asleep, but Dinah was having a hard time getting some sleep. The idea that Sofia might have said something to Pearl about Electra and the trainyard fire still bothered her a lot; sure, Electra's not the most people-person train out there, but he's not truly murderous, is he? Worst of all, she couldn't talk to her about it for fear of revealing that she knows about the story in a different way, creating more problems in an already stressful time.

Restless, she sat up in the spare bed set aside for the two coaches. Pearl slept soundly beside her, unaware of what her best friend was going through. She made her way to the outside of the guest unit, closing the door quietly behind her, and came to rest on the steps outside. "I don't understand," she quietly whispered. "None of this makes sense... How do I even begin to make sense of anythin'..."

"You sound conflicted, _mon cherie_. What is the matter?" Dinah turned to find Bobo sitting on a chair by the wall, a cigar lit in his mouth. She could tell by the dark shadows by his eyes that he was also having trouble sleeping. "Is monsieur Greaseball giving you worries?"

"Nah, not Greasy," Dinah sighed, crossing her arms. "I'm just... I got a lot on my mind, that's all..." Her untamed curls blew slightly in the wind, a stray curl sitting atop her head. "... Have you ever had trouble tryin' to figure somethin' out?"

"Hmm, not that I can think of," Bobo hummed. "Then again, I tend to worry very little... What's got your mind so wrapped up?"

"I... Well..." Dinah shook her head. "I can't really say... It's kinda private..."

"I see..." The French train tapped off a bit of ash and placed the cigar back into his teeth. "Maybe you can give a... basic idea of what's wrong?"

Dinah scratched her head. "I guess I can try..." She sighed and turned to face him. "There's this friend... She heard a story, a really bad one... And I know the story too, but I didn' hear it the same way she did... I wanna tell her the truth, but I can't tell her that I know it... Not only that, but I'm not sure I can trust the one that told her, or the one the story's 'bout..."

Bobo removed the cigar from his mouth. "That is quite the problem... Does the person in the story know that she knows this story?"

"I don't think so... And I want to tell 'im, too, but... He doesn't react very well to the story or anythin' related to it to begin with..."

"Hmm... It sounds like he should be told that someone is spreading false information..."

"I know, but I'm... I'm scared to know how he'll react... In the story my friend heard, he's... he's very violent... And I want to believe he's not like that, but I don't really know him well enough to know otherwise..."

"That may be, but is it not worth the risk to let him know someone is telling lies about him?"

"That's true...," Dinah sighed. "I just don't want anyone t' get hurt..."

The Frenchman snuffed out the remainder of his cigar. "I'll tell you this much... It would be wise to not let this fester for long... If it's something that can cause this much trouble in you alone, then it's something that needs to be dealt with. And if the person centric to the story is as temperamental as you say he is, then the best you can do is calmly explain what's going on. He needs to know, no matter what."

* * *

"Dustin? What's with that sour look on your face?"

Buffy and Duvay sat across from the big hopper as they ate lunch at Dinah's diner. With the dining car still on her run, she had given the keys to Buffy, allowing her use of the kitchen for her friends' lunch break. The girls had been chatting it up all the while, but once they were seated the buffet car finally noticed that the usually-cheerful fellow in front of her was not quite so cheerful.

"... Rusty's actin' funny again." Dustin sat his sandwich down. He didn't mean to ruin their good mood, but he found it funny that Buffy cared to ask. "I tried to talk to 'im this morning, but he just seemed real distant.. Like when he was sick earlier..."

"Oh Starlight, don't tell me he's coming down with something else," Buffy whined sarcastically. "Every time he wanders off into la-la-land, you or Pearl fawn over him like he's a wounded kitten! He's not that pitiful, I swear-"

"Ah'm serious, Buffy! He's actin' worse than that!" Dustin's red cheeks turned a deep crimson, not one to make an outburst like that. "It's just... He looked real down-in-the-dumps... Not even the guys could cheer 'im up like they usually do..."

Duvay munched on a carrot stick thoughtfully. "Ain't his coach off on a trip? Maybe he's just bummed because Pearl's not here to talk to..."

Dustin sighed. "Maybe... But he's not usually that quiet even when she's gone..."

"Still fussing over Rusty, Dustin?" Caboose and Purse rolled beside the table, slowing to a stop and sitting beside them. "He's just been like that since Sofia got here, causing all kinds of trouble for him," the brake truck laughed, stealing a french fry off Buffy's plate as she glared him down.

"It's not funny, Caboose," Buffy sneered, showing clear disdain for the current topic. "That coach has done nothing but been a pain in his ass. Everyone knows he's got Pearl as his racing partner, and he's not giving that up for nothing."

"And that's not all," Purse said dryly. "Word around the yard is that she's got a sister here too. Not too friendly, either."

Buffy nearly spit out her drink, gagging instantly. "She has a sister?"

"Name's Cassie, supposedly. She was one of the new entries that started practice with Rusty and Belle yesterday."

"Ohhh, is she that coach that looks like a walking fashion disaster and reeks of stale tobacco?" Duvay yawned, covering her mouth with her hand. "Some of the new girls told me about her. First impressions were... not so great."

"Sounds like everyone's first impression with Electra back then," Caboose mumbled to no one in particular.

"What d'you mean?" Buffy threw a carrot stick at the brake truck. "Last I remember, most everyone was pretty damn excited by him, including you. No, scratch that, _especially you_."

"I wasn't talking about that, I was talking about-" Caboose froze. He needed to shut up. NOW. "- something else entirely!"

Buffy regarded Caboose with a displeased look on her face. "You're not hiding something, are you? Because you know full well I can find out what it is right here, right now."

"Me? Nah, I don't know a thing!" Caboose quickly got up, shoving the thrown carrot stick into his mouth as he sped towards the door. "Gotta go though, it's been a real slice! See you guys later!"

"You coward, GET BACK HERE!" Buffy jumped up and raced after the break truck, lost in her newfound rage as she abandoned the others at the table.

"What was all that about, I wonder...," Duvay yawned again, turning back to her food as Dustin gazed out the window, worry still etched on his face.

* * *

"So! Are you enjoying your time here at the yard?" The two sleepers stood at the edge of the race tracks, Sofia leaning against a wall while Cassie sat on a handrail, puffing away at another cigarette. "Is it as fun as I said it would be?"

"Almost. But not quite," Cassie nodded, a loose curl bouncing around. She fiddled with a lighter in her hand, a simple sleek-designed thing that slipped into her headwrap easily. "Things could be a lot more exciting here, y'know? Nothing wrong with livening things up a bit."

"That's true.." Sofia swayed from side to side, rolling her wheels back and forth. "But I like it just the way it is. It's a lot nicer than our last home was."

"Hmmm. I've told you a thousand times before, Sofi. The Hilton was our home. Nothing's ever gonna replace it."

"I know... It's just.."

"I know you miss it still." Cassie put out her cigarette, putting the lighter away into her headwrap. "And I promise I'll try and make up for all the moving around you've had to deal with. But we've got a bigger problem to deal with."

"Yeah... But he's not gonna budge on it..."

"They weren't kidding when they said he was stubborn." Cassie rolled over to her sister, placing an arm around her shoulders. "But you know what? I bet we can split those two up easier than a diesel can spell Mississippi frontwards and backwards. It's just gonna take some time..."


	13. It Can't Wait

_Author's Notes: I DIDN'T FORGET ABOUT THIS STORY I SWEAR. I actually hit a writer's block a while back and had been having trouble continuing the plot from where I last left off. After finishing the last chapter, I got stuck trying to figure out how to start the climb to the climax. (Basically, I got the basics down, but the how-to had not been formulated at that point where I mapped out the plot-line. WHOOPS.)_

 _BUT YEAH. I got the block broken, I think! BECAUSE NOW WE HAVE THIS. Now we get to see more secrets! Or at least more secret-holding. Because someone can't talk about their feelings._

* * *

Dinah stared at Rusty from across the diner. She looked him up and down until her eyes went crossways. It'd been three weeks since she and Pearl had returned from New Mexico, and here he was having come back from a week-long freight haul through the southern states.

And he was far too quiet for her tastes.

Pearl had raced to him as quickly as she could when she heard he'd been acting funny again, and it helped. For a few days, at least. But rather than coming over and getting to see each other for a bit, he'd instead go straight home. Head to work. Head straight back home. It left no time for Pearl to see Rusty, and they were nearing up on the last week before what Control called the "demo runs"; he defined them as practice runs that were allotted into the work schedule to allow for top-notch racers to hone their skills without their work and off-time interfering. Which meant only a short time until the actual races began.

Now that Rusty was back, Pearl would be ready to start practicing again, like they had been in the free time they had during the last few weeks of winter. But this behavior, Dinah thought. This behavior would not cut it.

She looked around in the diner; while she'd been mulling about her thoughts, the last engine had left, leaving her and Rusty alone. She had to say something. She had to- *CRASH* The plate she'd been cleaning had slipped out of her hand and onto the floor. It shattered, sending shards of ceramic over the floor behind the bar. Dinah sighed and tsk'ed herself for being so clumsy, but she knew she couldn't help it; the whole trainyard fire thing was still stuck in her mind. She couldn't bring herself to tell Electra what she heard. She knew he had a right to know, to clear things up, but to her relief, there hadn't been anything else strange happening since they got back from New Mexico... She hoped things had settled, that everything was okay again...

"Are you alright?" Dinah's head snapped up. Rusty had rolled over to where she sat behind the bar and was looking over at her. "You're not hurt, are you?"

Dinah quickly shook her head, her blonde curls bobbing with the motion. "Nah, I'm just a lil' clumsy, that's all..." She reached for a wastebasket and started picking up the bigger pieces she could see, careful not to cut her fingers on the sharp edges. "Shows I really need to get those plastic plates I'd seen at the store the other day!"

Rusty half-heartedly smiled back. "I can go get a broom to help out... You keep one in the side closet, right?"

"No, you don't have to worry 'bout that, I'll be fine- Ow!" True to her nature, Dinah had cut herself on a small piece of ceramic. A fine line of blood began to seep out from the cut on her finger.

The steamer shook his head, rolling to the closet and reaching for the broom and dustpan inside. "I don't know what we're gonna do with you, Didi," he chuckled as he rounded the end of the bar, opening and closing the panel that formed part of the bar itself. "You sure you don't want my help after all?"

Dinah stood up, wiping her finger off with a tissue from her apron pocket. "You're a real sweetheart, Rusty. Pearl's lucky to have ya!" She cleaned off her finger as Rusty swept up the remainder of the shards and dumped them into the wastebasket. She hated this, though; once he finished cleaning up, he'd likely leave and she'd be out of an opportunity to talk to him. She had to find out what was making him be so quiet now... Wrapping a bandage around her finger, she moved the remainder of the plates she had finished back into the kitchen, and rolled back into the dining area.

"Hey, Dinah? Can I ask you something?"

Dinah looked up at Rusty; he looked hesitant to speak, but she waited with baited breath; was he about to vent about something? "... Yeah?"

Rusty scratched the back of his neck. He wanted to say something. To get something out of his mind, but... "Never mind... It can wait until later." He placed his hat back upon his head and began rolling towards the door. He'd almost made it until a sopping wet wash-rag hit right on the back of his head. "Hey!"

Dinah stared him down again. "Don't do that."

"Don't do what...?"

"Don't just say 'Can I ask a question?' and then just turn 'round and leave! Somethin's on your mind, Rusty, and I know it!"

"Dinah..." Rusty fished the wash-rag from the back of his shirt and sat it back on the bar. "There's nothing wrong. I can just find you later and ask you the question. It can wait."

Dinah laid a hand on Rusty's wrist as he tried to roll away. "Rusty, please! This ain't like you! Pearl's worried sick about you, and I know I don't have all the answers that will make her happy! You got to let someone know what's on your mind, it's not healthy to keep quiet like this!"

"Dinah, I'm doing just fine! If I have any problems, I'll talk about them when I'm ready!" He moved his wrist away and raced away in a huff, leaving Dinah in the diner alone.

"Ohh..." The dining car slunk down to the floor, quietly sobbing to herself. "I've gone and fudged it now..." She couldn't see the doorway from her view point, so she couldn't see two people roll in when they saw the curious sight of an open doorway. Peeking in, they looked around, hearing the quiet sounds of sniffling and fearing the worst. They entered in and caught the coach by surprise when she looked up and saw two trucks with grimy faces looking down at her; it was Flat-top and Krupp, back from a rather eventful cleaning mishap at the freight's garage.

"Dinah, you ok?" Flat-top looked at her with an uneasy worry on his face. Greaseball would not want to hear that he found Dinah crying in the diner. "Did someone hurt ya? Do I need to get Greaseball over here?!"

"N-no, Flat-top, it's okay, I just..." Dinah tried to explain. She wanted to, so badly. But at a loss for words, she crumpled into a heap against the bar, sobbing against the laminated wood surface. "It just hurts when you can't help your own friends..."

Flat-top groaned inwardly; he didn't want to hear about it, he just wanted to make sure his boss's girlfriend was okay. "You sure you don't want me to call the big boss in 'ere? 'Cuz I can... No?"

"No, it's alright," the coach sniffled. "I was just... worried about Rusty.."

"Join the club, everyone's in it."

"And he's... y'know how stubborn he is... He just doesn't want to talk about it..."

Krupp crossed his arms. "There's no need to force him. Engines are engines, they can be too prideful sometimes."

"Does Sparky even talk to you guys? 'Cuz I think there's a difference between prideful and-" Flat-top would've continued, but the hard stare from Krupp kept him quiet.

"But it's not just for his sake," Dinah cried. "Pearl's tried to reach out to him, but he won't even tell her anything... We want to help him, but how can we do that when he won't let anyone in?"

* * *

Rusty cursed himself as he stood in the shade of the engines' garage, working on his rusted spots. The reality of what he had done back in Dinah's diner had dawned on him after he'd made it clear across the yard. He hurt Dinah's feelings; she was only trying to help him, to make him feel better. But he didn't want to talk about it just yet. He didn't know if he could.

Well, now he wondered if he'd ever be able to. Dinah had been one of his closest friends since they were younger, basically been a sister to him along with Buffy and Ashley. But if there was anything that he couldn't talk to Poppa or Belle about, he knew he could talk to Dinah about it. She'd listen to anything he'd want to talk about. They knew each other more than anyone else did, minus more intimate things, and if the other was ever in need of something, they'd be sure to help out. But now Rusty had gone and hurt her feelings in the one way he shouldn't have.

On top of that, Greaseball would have his head on one of her silver platters if he found out.

The young engine rubbed the sides of his head as his head pounded at the thought of it. He sat his supplies back into the box he kept them in and sat them back into a locker that lined one of the walls of the garage. He turned back around and was thrown off-guard by a heavy force slamming against him.

* * *

"Joule, what on earth are you doing?"

The dynamite car had been deep in conversation with two of the Rockies and Volta when she saw something in the distance that caught her attention. "... Hm?"

"Do you always zone out like that?" Rocky 3 laughed as he watched the female car snap back to attention while looking back often at whatever it had been that took her interest.

"She's always easy to distract, I'm afraid. Holding conversation with her is hard," Volta sighed, pulling out a sparkler and lighting the end of it with a small lighter from her pocket, shooting sparks from the end of the stick. "Jouley, look at what I got~..."

"Electra?" Joule asked, a tone in her voice quite.

Volta looked back at what Joule was now looking back at, Rocky 3 standing up from his spot to get a better look.

"Electra?!"

* * *

Flat-top sat in silent misery beside Krupp as Dinah sobbed in short bursts beside Duvay and Bobo. The sleeper and French train had rolled in looking for Ashley, but were quickly pulled into the matter at hand against their own devices.

"I see," Bobo sighed, rolling a glass of bourbon in his hand. "He's been quite somber the past few days, hasn't he..."

"Past several weeks, ya mean," Flat-top groaned.

"I just wanted to help him," Dinah whimpered, rubbing at the corners of her eyes. "Ah know he's got a lot on his mind, what with work and the races... But he's never been this hard to reach before..."

"You don't think that coach has anything to do with it, do ya?" Duvay yawned, stretching out her arms.

"P-Pearly?"

"I mean Sofia. Do you think she's said something to him?"

Dinah drew a blank. She hadn't thought that Sofia might be the cause. Sofia had been acting somewhat normal since she and Pearl had come back, and Rusty had been gone that whole week after they came back... It was easy to write it off as being something else when you weren't there part of the time.

"Can we just chalk Sofia up to being the Diesel in disguise?" Flat-top slammed his hands down on the table, making Dinah jump in her seat. "Y'all talk about her like that's basically what she is. Ain't no way she's that much of a threat to the yard!"

"Have you even been paying attention to what's been goin' on?" Dinah sniffled. "A good portion of this is because of Sofia, so we've every right to be concerned!"

"Just let the rustbucket deal with it his way! He's done good on his own before, so why be worried now?!"

Bobo sat his glass down on the table. "He might be right. We don't know if she's the cause of the steamer's trouble now, so we can't go tossing blame onto whoever we please."

Dinah shook her head furiously. "And if we do that, we might wind up with a repeat of his earlier illness!"

"Would you quit fussin' over him like a mom?! You all act like he's some tiny baby that needs to be taken care of 24-7! He's not that helpless-"

The sound of a heavy impact against the diner stopped Flat-top from finishing his sentence as the double decker coach and library car stumbled into the diner, out of breath and frazzled.

"You guys need to come to the engines' garage! There's a fight going on and it doesn't look too good!"


	14. Secret's Out

_Author's Notes: New chapter incoming, and boy it's a ride! At this point on, we're heading into the latter half of the story, which is a slow process._

 _I also apologize if I've wound up mischaracterizing certain characters, but I'm trying to create some CHARACTER GROWTH. Also some trains still deserve a foot up the rear-end._

* * *

"You guys need to come to the engines' garage! There's a fight going on and it doesn't look too good!"

* * *

It wasn't so much a fight, really. It was more like those moments where you have no idea what you did, but now there's someone staring you down after having socked you against the face.

It was a moment Rusty now knew of as he weakly stood with his back against the lockers, searing pain down the entire front of his body. In front of him stood Electra, sparks shooting out around him with a wild glare in his eyes. Rusty had seen a similar look in his eyes when Pearl left him last year in the championship for Greaseball... Only this time he didn't have his posse to calm him down, nor did he know the reason why he was so angry.

"I've been waiting for a long time to deal with you, steamer," Electra fumed, his eyes burning with white hot anger. He hadn't been in the mood to pick fights, but he had finally reached the end of his rope, and he was done with playing nice.

"The hell is wrong with you?" Rusty wiped his wrist against his face; he was bleeding from his nose. "I haven't done anything to you in recent time, and you're a year overdue for having lost last year!"

"Don't play dumb, you rusted scrap heap. I may be more modern and technologically-advanced than you old-fashioned pieces of junk, but don't think you can get away with acting a fool in front of me!"

"What do you mean?"

"Electra!" The group from the diner had made their way over, along with Joule and Volta with the Rockies. Volta rolled forward as the others slowed to a halt, worry deeply set in their eyes. "What's all this about?"

Electra narrowed his eyes. "Don't get involved. This is between me and him."

"I haven't done anything," Rusty yelled back.

"A load of rubbish," Electra fired out, his chest monitor flashing in anger. "Don't think I haven't heard of what you've done."

"Electra," Volta pleaded in a low voice. "Please, don't do anything rash. Just explain to us what's wrong.."

The shining engine turned to the crowd, piercing blue eyes staring daggers at each train nearby. "You all should know! The whole yard has heard by now. They all know what happened!""

"What happened... You don't mean..."

Joule started forward. "Don't mean what?"

"You know damn well what. I knew that steamers were stupid, but I didn't think you'd stoop to spreading lies about someone behind their back!" He turned back to Rusty, who had a pained and confused look on his face. "You've really crossed my wires this time, junktrain."

"I haven't spread anything about you, Electra." Rusty stood straight, picking his fallen hat off the ground. "If anything, I could care less about anything that's been said about you!"

"What's the meaning of all this?" Poppa called out as he and Belle made their way past the crowd, with Pearl, Ashley, Buffy and Caboose behind them. Seeing the two younger engines squared off, Poppa moved to stand beside Rusty, placing a calm hand on his back and turning to face the electra engine. "What's going on here, Electra?"

"You should ask your protegee, he should know." Electra pointed at Rusty, seething with anger.

"I told you, I don't know anything!" Rusty winced as a surge of pain flashed through his body, but stood tall. "You keep accusing me of spreading rumors, but you haven't even said what they are yet!"

Caboose's face paled. "Oh crap, you don't mean-"

"You mean the trainyard fire you started long ago?" Pearl rolled up to face Electra, an oddly determined look on her face. Gasps echoed lightly through the crowd that had begun to dissipate with disinterest despite the dramatic topic. Those that knew about the secret sat in an unsteady silence, unsure how to truly react.

Electra turned to face the observation car, the spark in his eyes turning dull in seconds. The growing pit deep inside him seemed to become a massive black hole with each passing moment. "... Yes. It seems some trains here have quite the penchant for spreading gossip... And here I though it was only coaches that did the talking!" He glared at Rusty before taking a step towards the coach. "I would've liked to believe you'd be smarter than that, but it looks as though I've been proven wrong." He turned to leave, his features tightening as the few trains that stayed averted their gaze from him. "I hope you're happy, steamer. I'll be glad to take your title of champion from you this year, maybe then you'll learn to be a bit more respectful about others' history when it's not your business."

* * *

It was long after the rush of the argument had settled, but the excitement of the new rumor was still making its way around the yard. What made it worse was that whenever Electra made his way around, either working or just taking a break, he had even more eyes on him than when he first came to the trainyard; it ticked him off that the reason wasn't because of his good looks or his superior technology. He claimed to not be stressed easily, but it was clear later when he met up with those that already knew his secret that he'd reached a level of anxiety unfamiliar to him.

"How DARE he! To spread such trash to his own friends, and from such a low source of life as well!" Electra cursed his luck as they sat back at Dinah's depot. A glass of tea in his hands, he could not stop them from shaking as sheer anger continued to course through his circuits. "Such low-brow behavior, and to drag Pearl into it as well!"

Dinah shifted uncomfortably in her chair. She should've told him about what she'd heard, she shouted to herself in her mind. Now here they were, the secret known by everyone, and the center of it all locking up in her living room! Greaseball, Krupp, and Caboose sat outside, unsure how to comfort anyone in this situation, while Volta and Wrench stood in the kitchen informing Joule and Purse about what had happened. She hadn't told Bobo anything more than what she'd previously said, but she knew he was smart enough to draw his own conclusions. Dinah was wondering just how everyone else was dealing with the new info when the sound of a clattering glass snapped her back to attention. Electra had dropped his glass on the floor, tea slowly draining out into the carpet. "O-ohh, don't worry about that! I'll get it cleaned up!"

"... Do you think he was right?" Electra slowly leaned back on the sofa, rubbing the bridge of his slim nose. "About not knowing the story...?"

Dinah mused quietly. "Well... Suppose Sofia did tell him... I can't think of a reason why he'd listen to her, but then maybe she coulda said somethin' to turn him into believing her..."

Electra ran his fingers lightly through the mohawk on his head; it'd almost seemed to Dinah as though it wasn't shining as brightly as it normally did. He'd wanted to believe that maybe some engines weren't "the talkin' type", but when he received an anonymous message in his system about Rusty being a nosy parker, he'd nearly thrown Caboose over a railing in anger. Ready to release his pent-up frustrations, he found the steamer cleaning his joints at the engine's garage, none the wiser over what was about to happen. The hit he'd landed on Rusty was loaded with enough electric charge that it could've killed a human being, though Electra would've like to give him more than just one hit...

But something bothered him about the whole affair. Something just didn't seem right. It makes sense to assume that Rusty would've told Pearl about what he found out, yet Electra still wondered if he even knew the actual story. True, he might not listen to Sofia if she did tell him, but if the engine could assume for a second that someone else told him...

"I'm real sorry, Electra. About all this.."

The tall engine looked over to the coach beside him, who now laid her chin on the backs of her hands as she leaned onto the chair's armrest. Her face was turned away, but her voice had the telltale signs of sadness in it. "What do you mean?"

Dinah sat straight up and turned to where Electra could see her face; her eyes were already glassy with the first few tears that began to form. "I shoulda said something earlier, but I didn't know how to bring it up without upsettin' ya... I don't think Rusty told Pearl about the fire..."

Electra slowly sat up, his processor already working to compute this new info. "Go on," he murmured as he leaned in closer.

The dining car sniffled, trying hard to keep her composure. "I... I overheard Pearl talkin' to Ashley about it one day... Ah didn't hear who she got it from, but she was talkin' like she wasn't wantin' anyone else to hear it..." She grabbed a tissue from her apron pocket and wiped the corners of her eyes, growing heavy with the threat of oncoming tears. "I wanted to say somethin', either to her or to you, but I just didn't want to make things worse than they were!"

"We assume it may have been Sofia that told her about what happened," Volta called from the doorway of the kitchen, rolling over to where Electra sat while Wrench and Joule rolled over to stand behind Dinah's chair. "As far as we know, no one outside our group knew the actual story from what you told us."

"And Rusty was still laid up at home durin' that time, so the only one that could've told him woulda been Pearl or any of us..."

"Maybe the smoking car told him?" Electra mused. "She's not too gossipy, but she's closer to him than the sleeper is.."

"She actually believed you weren't at fault, in this case." Volta brushed a flyaway strand of Electra's wiring from her face. "And she's been assisting with the new coaches training from what Belle told us, so she hasn't had that much time to see him since he's been back."

"So then that leaves-"

"THAT PIECE OF SHIT ENGINE IS GONNA GET WRECKED." The sounds of shouting from outside the depot alerted the trains to a new arrival, but as Wrench got up to open the door, it swung open to reveal Caboose and Krupp holding Buffy by a headlock and her ankles as they brought her in, spouting curse words as she writhed in anger. Following behind was Ashley and Purse right beside Pearl, whose face was streaked with tears and makeup as she wailed incoherently. Greaseball now stood on the front steps with Turnov and Bobo, who gave Dinah a sympathetic glance before the door shut, now knowing fully well what she'd been so upset about. As they redirected Pearl to Dinah's bedroom and Buffy to the kitchen (with Wrench taking Caboose's place after Buffy knocked him in the head with a flailing leg), the four trains remained in the living room, uneasily taking in the new ruckus occurring in the house.

Caboose hung his head in pain, rubbing at where he'd been hit. "This day's not faring well for anyone, is it?"

"Is it not obvious?" Volta glared at the brake truck, but holding back a desire to smack him out of firm self-control. "But my interest is piqued... What was all that about?"

"You guys didn't know?"

"Clearly not," Dinah sniffled, not up for his usual sarcastic self. "I left after I made sure Rusty was alright; they've only been here for about a half-hour..."

"I thought Pearl would've come straight here after what happened with Rusty-"

Electra's head perked up. "What happened..?"

"Her and Rusty had an argument. A pretty bad one."

The girls gasped, while Electra stared in disbelief. "They did?!"

"Over what?" Dinah asked, stamping her foot on the ground. Of all things, what's happened now?


	15. Love on the Line

_Author's Notes: 15 chapters in, and we're only just getting to the juicy drama. Oops. But a new problem arises that might shake the yard to its' foundations! We're not too far from the end of all this, but there's more going on than what we see here. Meaning everything just gets worse from here on out._

* * *

"Her and Rusty had an argument. A pretty bad one.."

The girls gasped, Volta being particularly surprised at her own reaction. "They did?!"

"Over what?" Dinah asked, stamping her foot on the ground. Of all things, what's happened now?

* * *

Electra had just left the garage as the remains of the crowd finally split apart. With the new story on their lips, no one paid much attention as Pearl quickly rolled over to Rusty's side. Dinah stood nearby, rubbing her wrists in silent agony as Joule and Wrench stood beside her.

"Rusty, are you alright?" Pearl cooed, resting her head on his shoulder as she embraced him softly. "You look so tired..."

Rusty sighed, wincing in pain as he reached around to hug Pearl. "I'm alright.. Just a little sore, that's all."

"He should be alright," Wrench assured. "If there's any lasting effects, you can just bring him over to the repair garage, and we can look over him."

"And if y'all need anythin', Pearly can call me," Dinah added, looking towards Pearl. But she didn't dare look towards Rusty; she knew he was trying to be strong for Pearl's sake, but after their earlier conversation, she felt that at the least she could extend a hand towards Pearl, for Rusty's sake.

"I'll be fine. I'd rather it be me instead of anyone else... Thanks guys." Rusty nodded, wiping his forehead as Dinah left hurriedly with Wrench and Joule behind her. "... But what's got into him all of a sudden? And what's this about a fire?" He looked towards Pearl, scanning her eyes for an answer.

"Oh, it's... Um..." The observation car searched for an answer. She wasn't sure of what to say; she wasn't supposed to mention what she'd heard, but then she blurted it out in front of everyone just a few minutes ago. "It's nothing, really..."

"... Nothing?" The steamer placed his hat back onto his head, a little confused at her answer. "Pearl, I hardly think that counts as 'nothing'. In fact, a fire sounds like it'd definitely be a 'something' rather than a 'nothing', if an 'anything' at all."

"It's really nothing, Rusty, it's just... something that happened in the past, that's all!"

"Pearl." Rusty sighed in exasperation. "Just tell me what it is. You know I don't like having secrets kept from me, and I know you don't like it either."

Pearl looked down at their hands, their fingers clasped together in sweet innocent love. "Well...I wasn't supposed to say anything about it, but... Someone told me Electra... They told me he burned down an entire trainyard... The depots, the main hall... No one survived it!"

Rusty tsk-ed at Pearl's words as they coupled to leave the garage, starting out towards the units. "That sounds like him, after what he did just now. I swear, if he hadn't had that crash at the end of last year's final, I'm sure he would done the same here!"

"Oh Rusty, you don't actually believe that, do you?"

"Sure I do! You know how he is, and that just then proved how unstable he is. I think we all know full well he's capable of torching a whole yard!"

Pearl put on her breaks, accidentally jerking Rusty back and sending a shock of pain through his hurt side. "Rusty, please just listen. I know he seems bad, but he's not that dangerous! He's only angry because someone's spreading rumors about him and-"

The steamer looked back at his girlfriend, dumbstruck and confused. "You can't possibly believe that he's not at fault for that fire, right? Right?"

Pearl tensed up. Even she didn't truly know. But still, she thought... "Rusty... I honestly don't know what to believe. I know he has his moments... but I want to believe he's not that bad of an engine..."

The silence from Rusty felt disturbingly cold to Pearl. It felt like ages before Rusty uncoupled from Pearl and turned to face her. But the look in his eyes was something familiar to her, and it was something she knew long ago that she never wanted to see again.

It was the look of a heart being broken.

* * *

Through the choked sobs that threatened to shake her, Pearl retold the events that transpired to Dinah and the others when she had finally calmed down, while Buffy stood outside with Purse and Krupp (mostly just to get her to calm down while she vented in a jumble of swears and alcohol-laden vitriol). She was nearly finished before she gave in to another onset of tears, wailing into the dining car's shoulder.

"Oh Pearl, I'm so sorry, I shoulda stuck around!" Dinah hugged her best friend close. By this time, she'd told Greaseball about her earlier conversation with Rusty. It took both Bobo and Turnov to keep the diesel from making a scrap heap of the steam train, but now he sat pensively on a reclining chair, fiddling with the chain around his neck. "I'm sure he's feelin' just as hurt as Electra was earlier... He'll come back around to his senses, I know it!"

"T-that's the thing...," Pearl sobbed, sniffling as her strands of her hair stuck to her tear-soaked cheeks, "h-he said that i-if I was so willing to b-believe E-Electra, then I should j-just go ahead and r-race w-with him!"

The troubled smile on Dinah's face quickly flipped into a frown. "Wha... No no, that can't be... He's not gonna act that way, is he?"

"I'm s-so s-sorry D-Dinah..." Pearl cried, trying in vain to wipe tears from her eyes. "But h-he j-just u-uncoupled m-me and left me out t-there b-by myself! I-I t-tried to call h-him back, b-but he n-never t-turned b-back around!" She began to sob again, wrapping her arms around her friend.

As the observation car cried, Electra motioned for the remaining Components to exit the room, and as they followed suit, the engine whispered something into Volta's ear, out of earshot to the coaches and to Greaseball. The front door shut, leaving the two engines and coaches alone together. Taking a seat in the empty chair, Electra straightened himself out before turning to face the girls. "If you don't mind... May I ask you something, Pearl..?"

The pink-clad coach looked back towards the electric engine, tear streaks and running mascara lines down her face as she sniffled. "... Y-yeah?"

"You said you wanted to believe that... I wasn't bad... Why is that?"

Pearl sniffled again, sitting up as straight as she could. "Well... I-I though that i-if you were that kind of e-engine... Y-You would've a-already burned t-this place down... You've said m-multiple times t-that you hate it here anyway..."

Electra leaned in, brushing strands of soaked hair away from the girl's face. "That's true... I do hate this yard sometimes... But I... appreciate your defense of me... Even if I don't seem as much."

"... The t-thanks is enough..." Pearl smiled, still pained from the heartache she was experiencing.

"By the way, Pearls" Greaseball started, having sat quietly for far too long in his tastes, "who exactly was it that told you the story? We all know it because Sparkplug told us-"

"Greaseball, please." Dinah started, swatting her boyfriend on the arm. "Not everything needs to be solved right now, we should just let her rest-"

"Sofia did." Dinah turned to face Pearl, who now sat still with a few tears still trailing down her face. "That was the day you and Dinah came and got me for work, the one when I was crying because-"

"You watched a sad movie," Dinah finished.

* * *

"That's horrible, how could such a thing happen?!" They sat in the living room of Pearl's depot, only a hour-and-a-half before work began, and here Pearl was with Sofia in the seat across from here, tears streaming down her face. A fire, of all things!

"Well... I don't like to dwell on it, really.. My sister says it just feeds the negative energy around us..." Sofia brushed a stray lock of hair from her face. "But the person that did it was so... cruel. So vile... So demonic! I couldn't believe it when I saw it, and I was only so young when it happened..."

"Oh Sofia, I'm so sorry! Did they ever catch the train that did it?"

"I'm afraid not... The engine and his posse left before anyone could come to apprehend them... But I know who they are."

"You do?" Pearl was on the edge of her seat; it was scary to think someone could be capable of something like this!

Sofia nodded her head. "I do. And I'm glad that I'm telling you this, so you can be careful around him. The engine's right here in your trainyard!"

"... He is?"

"Yes! You've seen him before, I know you have. He probably dazzled everyone when he first came here-"

Pearl's eyes widened as it dawned on her. "Electra?! No way, he couldn't be the one!"

"Oh, but he is. Let me guess, he comes out of nowhere with no prior arrangements?"

Pearl bit her lip as she thought for a second. "Well, none that I know of..."

"Made everyone fawn over him as if he were a superstar?"

The observation car blushed; she'd know that one for a fact! "Well yeah..."

"Threw a fit when he lost his partner, and then hurt said train in the race?"

"... Yeah." Pearl cradled her chin on top of her hands, leaning her elbows onto her knees. "He does sound pretty bad, doesn't he..."

"That's why I had to tell you. He might do it again if he gets angry enough..."

"But surely he wouldn't... right? Why risk getting caught again?"

"You already know why," Sofia quipped, gathering her bag. "He can control other trains. It'd be easy for him to escape again... If I were you, I wouldn't race in this year's races."

Pearl lifted her head up quickly. "Not race? ... I can't do that, I've already promised Rusty we would definitely race this year. No ifs, ands, or buts about it!"

Sofia laughed, a little too loudly to Pearl, it seemed. "I know, but I just want you guys to be safe..." Standing up and putting her bag on her shoulder, the sleeping car rolled over to the first-class coach and wrapped her in a warm hug. "I feel a lot better, Pearl... You're the only person I've been able to tell this to in a long time... I feel like I can actually trust you, like you're a real friend to me!"

Surprised at all this, Pearl began to cry. She didn't mean to, but she was just so overcome by the meaning of it all that it flooded her with emotion. "T-thank you s-so much, Sof-fia! I really appreciate t-that!"

"No no, thank you! Oh... can I ask one more thing of you?"

"Y-yeah?"

"Can you please not tell anyone about this? It's our little secret, just you and me!"

* * *

"And you believed her...?"

"Well excuse me for being so trustworthy of people!" Pearl gulped down a can of soda, slamming it down on the dining area where they sat, snacking on fruit while Dinah and Buffy stood in the kitchen cooking. By this point, her tears had subsides, but a dull emotional pain could still be heard in her voice. Greaseball and Electra stood against the wall while Pearl, Volta, Caboose and Ashley sat at the dining table. Dustin and Flat-top, who had arrived looking for Rusty, now sat at the bar as Bobo and Turnov regaled them with competitive card games. "I just hate that things have turned out like this... And she was so nice when she first came here!"

"Don't forget, she's got a sister 'ere too!" Flat-top mumbled loudly over his shoulder. "She's 'bout as friendly as a bag of angry cats, too! Probably got everyone wrapped 'round her nasty fingers."

Buffy snickered from the kitchen sink, where she was peeling potatoes. "He's right. If anything, it's probably that sister of hers that's pulling strings."

"Do we really even know if they're doin' anything to mess with us? What do they got to gain from it?"

"Sofia's wanting to race with Rusty because of that stupid promise."

"And they both have beef with me because of that stupid fire." Electra yawned, throwing another grape into his mouth. "It sounds like they could both use a good wreck to sort their brains out themselves."

"And since Rusty and-" Caboose stopped to place Pearl's hands over her ears before she swatted him away- "since Rusty and Pearl are seemingly no longer a thing, that means Sofia's gonna go in for the kill pretty soon."

"We don't know that yet, though," Ashley added, running a finger around the rim of her glass of tea. "For all we know, she might not want that now. And Rusty might come back to his senses and-"

"Now how convenient do you think it is that the thing Pearl knows- the thing we all know now -is the same thing that Sofia and this Cassie coach both know about?" Greaseball huffed, rubbing a hand on his forehead. "And how convenient is it that it seems to be the same damn thing that drives a wedge between Rustbucket and Pearl?"

"Maybe it's a good thing we're not together anymore," Pearl sighed. "Maybe then he can actually get that promise out of the way and he can stop worrying about it so much..."

"Now Pearly, that sounds an awful lot like quitter's talk!" Dinah stopped stirring the pot of stew and sat her ladle down on the stove. "I know it's hard to think about it, but I've a feeling you and Rusty are gonna be back together faster than you can say ' _Kainer kann es besser als die dampflok_ '!

"I know, but it's just... I'm still... I'm scared, Dinah. What if I've really hurt him this time?"

" **DON'T SAY THAT**." Buffy threw the veggie peeler into the sink, nearly bouncing it back up and straight towards her as she rolled around and went to wrap her arms around Pearl. "This is not you fault, Pearl, and don't **ever** think that. If this is anyone's fault, it's Rusty's, but we might very well just knock that off onto those sleepers' heads!"

"Plus, none of us know if they've been harassing him any," Caboose quickly added, garnering a raised eyebrow from the girls. "I mean, you and Dinah were gone a few weeks, and then he was gone right after y'all came back."

"And 'e's been actin' weird ever since," Dustin said, sipping from his glass of soda. "I ain't had the chance to talk to 'im about that, actually..."

Flat-top harumphed as he leaned back in his chair. "Doubt he'd say anything now, though. He's got a rod so far up his rear-end, he ain't willin' to talk to any of us. He ain't at home when we went by, ain't at the freight yard, not at the main hall or engine's garage. Where else could he be?!"

* * *

 _If you like what you see or have any criticism, feel free to leave a review!_


	16. Cycle of Doubt and Regret

_Author's Notes: Slow on the writing, I've been. But THANKFULLY, I've managed to work out a solution to certain life things that have been happening and have hindered the writing process. SO, I should be HOPEFULLY able to work on this more, because I've been stuck in the middle stages for a while now, and it's getting boring._

 _ **Heads up now: Language is going to get a bit more coarse from here on out. Rating may change soon, but for now, if swear words aren't your fancy, read with caution.**_

* * *

It was late in the evening, not too long after the group at Dinah's had gone home, and most of the trains had gone home to rest. Most of them, except Rusty. He'd been hoping to have an easy day with his friends today following the last run he'd been, but now all he wanted to do was go home.

And yet, he couldn't bring himself to go home just yet.

He mulled over the events that transpired earlier, each one making him sicker to think about. First was the thing with Dinah; she was only trying to be helpful, she was always like that! But then there was that fight with Electra. He wasn't really buddy-buddy with Electra since last year, but he'd seen him enough to know that he was hardly ever that erratic. Not that he was surprised otherwise, he reminded himself.

But then there was Pearl. He didn't count on her being... well, _her_. She was always trusting of other trains, Rusty reasoned, but she of all people knew how Electra was.

And yet she was _defending him_.

It was driving the boy nuts. It seemed as though this year's races were going to be a repeat of last year. _Stop thinking about last year_ , he sternly reprimanded in his mind, _it's only going to make things worse_. But Rusty could not deny that he once morefelt betrayed by Pearl, even though she was only acting in what she must've thought was a fair manner.

 _In her defense_ , some small voice twinkled back, _it's not like you were really around to let her tell you about it_. And he hated that it was true. Pearl was gone when he faced Sofia and Cassie in the main hall. Both her and Dinah were gone for only a few days longer than planned following a sudden halt in transport when a storm hit on their way through Kansas. But it was long enough for Rusty to grow increasingly nervous about the sleepers, despite the growing concern from Dustin and Poppa amid others. It was long enough that rather than trying to affirm that Pearl wouldn't do such a thing, Rusty unwillingly found himself avoiding her when she returned from New Mexico.

The first day she was back should've made him happy, but even when she excitedly chattered about the sights of the South over their supper later that night, he couldn't keep out the words that Sofia had said right before he stormed out of the main hall that night. " _If she's done it once before, she may do it again!_ " Rusty hated those words, knowing full well he shouldn't be afraid of them. And yet, they were enough to have him claim he wasn't feeling well, to excuse himself to go to bed, despite Pearl assuring him it might just be a end-of-the-season cold and that she wasn't afraid to get sick this time because she wanted to be with him.

Rusty hated just how afraid he'd become because of all that was happening. And for the first time in a while, he thought back to the promise he'd made. The thing that started everything.

* * *

"Rusty! Where were you? Everyone was worried sick lookin' for you!"

The tiny steamer now stood on the steps of the trainyard's main hall, with the darkness of night illuminated by the lamps that dotted the main yard. By now two search parties had been formed when he hadn't returned to the training school, and both were close to giving up when he rolled out from behind the coaches' garage, quiet and lost in thought. Poppa and Belle wrapped him in a hug upon reaching him, but that thankfulness for finding him was quickly replaced by Poppa's frustration and worry finally boiling over

"I... I'm sorry... I just fell as-sleep, that's all." Fat tears were starting to roll down Rusty's cheeks, still streaked with dirt from his nap. "I won't do it again, I-I swear..."

Try as he might to be firm-handed, Poppa only wrapped the little one into another bear-hug. "It's alright... Just promise you won't do it again." A quick nod was given in understanding, and so the trains dispersed to their homes for the night.

Many of the trains were off to sleep right as their heads hit their pillows, but Rusty ultimately found himself unable to sleep; it was as if a new spark had ignited somewhere in him. He was so restless that in his newfound energy he accidentally kicked the wall next to his bed at home, causing him to quickly pretend to be asleep as Poppa emerged from the hallway, easing into his room to check on the young steamer.

Assuming that he was asleep, the aging engine had begun to make his way back towards the hall before a light sigh and slight shifting of the sheets alerted him to the ruse. Rolling back over to the bed, he lifted up the blankets to reveal Rusty curled up underneath, his hands over his mouth in an effort to keep him from making sound. "Having a little trouble sleepin', son?" The little engine only nodded his head, his hands still over his mouth. Poppa sat down on the edge of the bed, yawning sleepily. "So what's got you so wound up? Normally you sleep like a log after days like this."

Rusty removed his hands from his mouth and slowly sat up, bringing his knees up to his chest. "... Do you really think I could be champion in the races someday?"

"Of course I do," Poppa said. "My faith in your abilities ain't changed since the day I first told you."

"Even if I'm too rusted over to move?"

"If you take care of the rusting, then it shouldn't hinder your chances anymore than getting as old as me would. Has someone been teasing you about your rust again?"

"Well, no..." Not aside from the usual comments, Rusty thought to himself. "I just wondered..."

Poppa placed a calming hand on Rusty's knee. "Now Rusty, I may be just an old steamer compared to you young 'uns, but I'm not feeble-minded or senile yet. I've seen engines come and go through my lifetime, and I've seen several still working despite missing a part or two or being rusted. And I know that having deal with the rust scares you, especially going into the future with it. But I know you can handle it and anything that the big train upstairs will throw your way."

"... You really think so?"

"I know so. And you can always race with one of the freight boys if a coach don't want to. And I know you'll find a coach that'll want to be with you no matter what."

Rusty rested his chin on his knees. "I sure hope so... I just was thinking about it, that's all..."

"You sure you're alright? Because I know that-" Rusty's stomach grumbled, telling Poppa what he was just about to say. "... Because I know you didn't eat much at supper tonight."

After a quick midnight snack (where Belle had woken up and caught the two sneaking spoonfuls of her favorite ice cream), Poppa tucked Rusty into bed, reminding him before leaving that his worries would be solved, for he had the Starlight Express on his side. As Rusty laid in bed that night, still worried about the promise he had made to Sofia. He wasn't sure if he should tell Poppa about it, though he knew all that Poppa would say was that he'd be able to win and do good on his promise. He still wondered if Sofia was even serious about her belief in him. But as sleep began to take hold, Rusty resolved to start training. Rust or not, he did have a promise to keep up!

* * *

By now, Rusty had found himself sitting at the freight yard in the darkness, still unsure about everything. He looked up at the clock tower that stood tall above the stacks of freight crates surrounding the yard; the time now was almost a quarter 'til midnight. The chill of the springtime air ran through Rusty like a knife, making him shiver as if he'd just gotten out of a pond in wintertime. Better get home now, he thought to himself as he started across the yard to the units. As he neared his unit, he noticed that none of the lights were on at any of the units across from his. The ones next to his were also dark, save for a dim light on in the back bedroom. Despite it being the weekend, it seemed as if no one was staying up late like they usually did. He unlocked the door to his unit, turning on the light to the living room as he shut and locked the door behind him.

Moving to the kitchen area, he opened the door to the fridge, searching for something to eat, and had just pulled out a few bowls when he noticed a light on his unit phone was on. It was the new message indicator on his answering machine. He groaned figuring it was a message from one of the girls; no doubt they'd be aware of what happened with Pearl, and likely left one berating him for hurting her feelings. _Well she kinda did hurt my feelings_ , he grumbled bitterly as he fixed him a plate of food from the meager findings he had (he cursed himself for not making more food at home instead of hoping Dinah or Pearl brought leftovers to share). Grabbing a drink from the fridge and popping the plate in the microwave for a short time, he sat down at the bar and pressed the button on the machine.

The machine played through the message he'd made when he was away from the phone as the microwaved beeped, signaling that his food was done. " _You've got 3 new voicemails_ ," the automated voice announced.

"That's more than I have in one day," he said aloud as it played the first message.

" _Rusty, this is Belle. I need some assistance with a few things in my unit, and Poppa doesn't want me to lift them on my own. Before you leave on your next run, could you swing by and help me out? I'd appreciate it a bunch, hun'!_ "

Rusty scratched his head. That must've been before I left last time, he thought as ate bits and pieces from his plate. He never even saw Belle before he left; maybe she's already gotten that done with someone else? The next message started, and Rusty nearly spat his drink out. It had to have been before what happened earlier.

" _Hey Rusty, it's Pearl! Control said you might be back today, so I was hoping we could go do something since it was the weekend. We both have off the next two days, right? Maybe we could stay home and watch a movie, or we could practice for the races! Demo runs are coming up here pretty quickly, and we haven't really had the chance to practice recently... Maybe it'd cheer you up? Let me know once you get home! Love you!_ "

The steamer's heart ached. Despite how he felt about earlier, he still hated how he had avoided Pearl the past week. The more he dwelled on it, the worse he felt. But between it, the fight with Electra, and their earlier conversation, he still felt hurt by what she had said. She saw what happened between them, shouldn't she have known better than to side with Electra?

The next message began, " _Heyyy big boy, this is_ -"

 ***RIIIING RIIING* *RIIING RIIING***

The sound of the phone actually ringing snapped Rusty of his thoughts, nearly knocking over his drink when he reached for the phone. "Hello, this Rus-"

" _YOU ASSHOLE_!" Rusty flinched as the voice yelled in his ear. He held the phone out at a distance as the person on the other end continued shouting. He slowly brought the phone back to his ear in hopes that they were done. But they only continued, making Rusty angrier as they got louder.

"Would you please stope yelling into the phone?! I can't hear a damn thing you're saying!"

" _GOOD. Then MAYBE you'd be a bit more considerate of people instead of being the same HEARTLESS JERK that you are!_ " He recognized the voice now that they weren't screaming expletives into his ear.

"Buffy, if this is about earlier, I can exp-"

" _I'M NOT THE ONE YOU NEED TO APOLOGIZE TO._ " Buffy's voice grated into Rusty's eardrum. " _I'd put Pearl on the phone, but she's content with being asleep on the couch right now right next to Dinah and Duvay._ "

"She's at your place?"

" _We're all here at Dinah's place. No one really wanted to leave after what happened, and it's ALL YOUR FAULT._ "

Rusty nearly dropped his glass. "My fault?! I'm not the one that chose to side with Electra right after he knocked me up against the wall, Buffy! But you obviously know that now-"

" _And it's not my fault that she's as much of a victim of circumstances as Electra is. I ain't no close friends with him, but even I see that what's going on with him isn't right._ "

"What, is everyone on his side now? Or is he just using his powers to control everyone?"

" _For Starlight's sake, Rusty, how vindictive are you going to be? I- NO GET YOUR HANDS OFF-_ " The sounds of rustling on the other end cut Buffy's voice off, and Rusty sat confused and irritated for only a few seconds.

" _Buffy's right, by the way._ " Now it was Ashley talking, sounding a bit too tired to be on the phone. " _It's clear you've been left out of the loop, but you haven't given anyone the chance to explain the story._ "

"Ash, I don't care what the story is," Rusty moaned, rubbing his forehead, "I just care that my girlfriend be on my side. Is that really all that bad?"

" _It is when you don't let her explain why she felt the way she did. Of course, now it's too late because you've already gone and uncoupled Pearl, so now instead of being in the loop and taking care of things, you're just farther out than you should be._ "

Rusty picked his plate of barely-eaten food up and rolled over to the trash can, dumping it all off as he held the phone up to his ear. "Well, it's not like I outright said I was breaking up with her-"

" _Well it's not like you turned back around to apologize and say 'I think I need some alone time right now' either. And Pearl seems pretty sure that you did break it off with her, because now she's told us that she doesn't want to race this year._ "

He had been on his way back to the bar, but Rusty froze immediately in his place. "... Really?"

" _Really really. I could be wrong, she could've paraphrased what happened between the two of you, but she was adamant that she shouldn't race this year, so that way you could get that promise crap with Sofia over with._ " Rusty could hear silence on the other end, as it sounded like Ashley was taking a second to smoke on her cigarette. " _That being said, I don't know what's wrong on your end of the deal, but I think you need to take some time to get it sorted out before races begin._ "

Rusty stood nervously by the bar, rapping his knuckles on the countertop as she spoke. "... Do you really think she's serious about not racing?"

" _I don't know, Rusty. All I know is that she believes you two are done, either as a racing couple or as a boyfriend/girlfriend thing or both- no Buff, he doesn't want nor need to hear that -and that you now look like a single engine just waiting for a new coach to slide up and hitch on. You best think your next course of action over, or else you're gonna suffer for it._ " The click of the phone hanging up didn't register in Rusty's mind, as he sat in a daze. After a minute he finally placed the phone back on its stand, but still he stood silently. As he turned the words he'd heard over and over in his mind, he remembered that there was still one more message he hadn't heard on the answering machine. He reached over to press the play button, but stopped.

" _She was adamant that she shouldn't race this year, so that way you could get that promise crap with Sofia over with._ "

It all circled back to the promise. Rusty's head ached bad enough that he couldn't finish his drink, and he simply poured it into the kitchen sink. Turning the lights off in the living room, Rusty silently went to bed, thinking he would listen to that message later. He prayed that the next day would be better.


	17. No One on Your Side

_Author's Notes: Not much to say here, except for a lack of Nationals use leading to this chapter. Enjoy! ( **Language warning still in place. Read at your own discretion!** )_

* * *

"This is Control, this is Control! Sign-up page for demo runs is posted in the main hall. We don't need a repeat of last year's drama, so remember: if your name's not on the list, you don't get time off to practice!

The dark cloud-ridden day seemed to whiz by for most once the announcement had been made, but as the other engines began to make "demo dates" as the coaches called them, Rusty seemed to sink into a deeper confusion. He did not sleep well the night before, and it felt like the previously familiar atmosphere of the yard had morphed into a very invasive experience; it seemed as thought everyone was shooting side glances at the steamer as he moved about, and when he went to clock-in, it was like the area cleared in a milli-second. It grated on his nerve, but he bit his tongue as he knew full well why people were acting this way.

But though people avoided him, Rusty couldn't help but notice that a certain coach still hadn't clocked-in when he went to the main hall at lunch break for a schedule check. Pearl hardly missed a day of work, he thought as he mulled over the clock-in sheet. It was likely she was still too upset over yesterday to work, but he was hesitant to agree with the notion. She was stronger than that, right? Just to let something like that...

The more he thought it over, the more likely it seemed. Just as she was the world to him, he'd been the world to her. The sinking pit in his stomach only served to fuel his guilt faster and faster 'til it made him queasy.

"Are you alright there, son?"

Rusty nearly back-handed the marbles out of Princey when he whirled around; Princey only dodged the hit with a well-practiced swoop of his head. "Geez, Prince, do you ever make a sound when you enter a building?!"

"I could add a bicycle horn if you'd like. I can honk everytime I move!" The British train grinned under his swirly mustache; he meant no harm in the thought, but the image of a bike horn attached to Princey's wheels only made Rusty's head hurt even more.

"No thanks. You could just announce yourself like Espresso and Bobo do when they come in for work.."

"Duly noted. But what seems to be the problem? You aren't looking well at all."

Rusty absentmindedly scratched at a rust spot on his elbow. "It's nothing... I just didn't sleep well last night."

"After last night's fiasco, I imagine so. Especially with the shock of seeing your coach move on to someone else so close to race-time, but I'm sure you'll hitch another one soon!"

"... What?"

"Ah, feigning innocent on the matter. Don't worry, Rusty, you've got me on your side! I too find it rude to hear that Pearl's choosing to race with Electra this year without consulting you on the matter, it's downright traitorous-"

Rusty had practically thrown the paperwork he had been looking at back down on the counter, scattering it everywhere as he grabbed Princey by one of his shoulders. "Where the hell is this coming from?! Who said she was doing this?"

"Why, it's the local rumor mill! All the coaches are talking about, saying you two had a fight last night, and that she swore up and down that she would rather race with Electra than with you! What exactly did you two fight about-"

Princey was hardly through his explanation before Rusty spun around and zoomed out of the main hall as if the Diesel were on his tail. He felt like his mind was about to implode on itself. He raced towards the one place he knew Pearl would be at, even if it was the one place he didn't want to go: Dinah's diner.

* * *

"You sure have a way with words, steam train. But I ain't convinced you're any better than Mr. Lightning now."

Rusty's jaw throbbed as he was laid out on the floor of the diner. He figured he was overdue for a beating from Greaseball, but the pain he felt now almost rivaled what he was used to dealing with. Entering the diner, he found the diesel and his gang instead of Pearl, and the look on the bigger engine's face was one of a deeply-seeded rage.

"I don't understand why you're all eager to defend him now, he's not a nice engine-"

"Save it, Scrappy." Greaseball rubbed his fist against a handkerchief he held in the other hand, its frilly blue lining stained in red and black. "I put up with your shit purely because Dinah has a bleeding heart in regards to you. But now she can't save you, 'cuz she's busy salvagin' the wreck you left with Pearl!"

Blood streamed down from the corner of Rusty's mouth; a cut on his jawline was already starting to swell from the hit. "How do you think I feel about it?! Electra attacked me with no warning, and she just up and decided to side with him!"

"And yet somehow you don't use that tiny brain of yours to maybe put a little faith in what she's sayin', or maybe, y'know, apologizin'?!"

"For what, standing my ground?"

"For being a massive jackass, that's what!"

"THAT'S ENOUGH YELLIN'." Heads turned to find a rain-soaked Dinah standing at the diner entrance, with Ashley and Purse right behind her. A few other trains stood outside, but Rusty could not tell who they were beyond the rain that was now falling hard upon the earth. "What's all this hollerin' about now?"

"This asshole," Greaseball started, pointing to Rusty before he could get a word in, "busted in here trying to find Pearl!"

Rusty glared the diesel down, but turned his attention to Dinah and Ashley. "I thought she decided she wasn't going to race this year, so why in Starlight's name is she practicing with Electra in the demo runs?!"

Ashely's nostrils flared as she exhaled smoke from her cigarette, remembering that she had told him about Pearl's decision the previous night. "Shouldn't you know by now not to believe all the gossip you hear? Besides, why does it matter to you? It ain't like you two are racing anymore..."

"Plus, she ain't workin' today," Dinah quipped sharply. "She's at home with a stomach flu. I ran to give her some soup for the day, and instead of a clean diner, I come back to two idiots brawlin' inside."

"Now baby, you know I- SHIT!" Greaseball glided over to Dinah, nearly wrapping an arm around her shoulder, before the dining car quickly slapped him across the face.

"I don't care why right now, but I want ya both OUT of my diner NOW. I don't appreciate this kind of behavior in my place, and y'all both know it, now GET OUT!"

* * *

Pearl groaned in the comfort of her couch and blankets at home, the nearby TV playing some kids' animated movie. She truly wasn't feeling well, but it wasn't near as serious as Dinah had made it sound; hours of crying and countless amounts of food via Dinah and Buffy had led to a double case of a head-ache and stomach-ache. It hurt so much that when she had woken up to get ready for work, the pain almost made her pass out. A quick call to Wrench gave her the answer, and a call to Control gave her the day off.

She had been intending to rest, but she was uneasy; not because of the aching, but because of why she was aching. She wanted to act like she could move on from what happened, but her heart kept breaking over the idea that Rusty no longer wanted to be with her. She didn't mean to hurt his feelings. She didn't want to make him feel like he did last year. But it was like every time she tried to do the right thing, it only broke more hearts and made people sadder. She writhed in agony over the fact, even more so as she worried that the group's fears about Sofia and Cassie might be true. Could they really be turning them against each other? Oh Starlight, her stomach was doing somersaults just thinking about it!

As she leaned over the side of the couch to drink from her glass of ginger ale, she tried to think of a plan to fix everything. The best she could figure was that if she could refrain from racing just this year, then maybe everything would sort itself out. Rusty could keep his promise with Sofia, naturally, but that doesn't mean that he would take her back afterwards. And then there's the fire thing. If Electra didn't do it, then who did? And why are the girls so set on blaming Electra for it?

She had just started to doze off when her home phone rang, startling her out of her sleepy haze. She reached over, very nearly knocking her drink over before grabbing hold of the phone and pressing the answer button. "Heelllo," she croaked out sleepily.

"Oh shoot, did I wake you up?" Dinah's worried voice rang through the speaker. "I didn't mean to, Pearly, I can let you sleep.."

"No, it's okay..." Pearl yawned, still fighting off sleep on all sides. "I'm still awake. What's up?"

"I think there's trouble brewin', Pearly.. Rusty just stormed into the diner wondering where you were. There's a rumor goin' around that you and Electra are racing together this season!"

Pearl sat up as quickly as her aching would let her. "Huh?! Why would they talk about that, we haven't even told anyone that I'm not racing this year!"

"I'm afraid that's not true," Dinah countered. "Ashley supposedly told Rusty last night that you were refusing to race, but that doesn't really explain where this new bit's comin' from."

Pearl's face tightened, taking in this new information. It's true she wasn't planning on racing, but she wasn't sure if things would stay that way.

* * *

"You can't seriously be considering not taking part this year, right?"

It was only later that night, as the group at Dinah's was eating, that a comment from Pearl had most of the trains present stop to turn and face her. Pearl sat silently, a lost look in her eyes as she slowly stirred the stew around in her bowl. "I don't know, guys, but I can't see myself racing with anyone else at this point. We had already made plans to race together, everyone knows we were a team... To change that now after what's happened, it's only gonna make things worse."

Ashley sniffed in bitter humor. "I'd think the concept of you two splitting up is enough of a change to make things worse..."

"Besides," Pearl added, "everyone else already chose their partners. Even the new racers have coaches of their own. It's not like there's any other option out there..."

"What about Electra?" Caboose asked, chomping down on a forkful of cheesy potatoes. "Maybe he'd take you again?"

"Not this time, I'm afraid." Electra sighed, leaned against the wall with his own bowl of food. "Wrench will be taking up behind me this time. It seems the Russian engine has been having wheel trouble recently and won't be repaired in time for the races."

Pearl pushed her bowl away from her. "At least this way he can finish things with Sofia, then maybe things will pan out okay."

"And if he doesn't come back for you?" Pearl turned to face Greaseball, who sat beside Dinah with a furrowed brow. "What if he doesn't come crawling back to you in the end?" The look on his face made Pearl shiver, even as the temperature in the unit was a comfortable in-between for most cars.

"Now Greasy, don't mention anything like that!" Dinah smacked her boyfriend playfully on the arm, trying unsuccessfully to ease the tension. But the diesel's stare only bore deeper into the observation car, quickly making everyone grow uncomfortable.

"Well?"

Pearl could feel the knot in her stomach tighten, not sure how well her answer would go. But still, there wasn't much else she really could do. "... Then that's all there is to it."

* * *

"Wait, when did she manage to talk to him last night?"

"I guess while we were asleep, Buffy called his unit to give him what for. That's probably what happened from the sounds of it, 'cuz Buffy sure was a lot calmer today that she was last night."

Pearl groaned as she laid back down on the couch. "I'm sorry about all this, Dinah. Getting all of you roped into this."

"Don't worry about it, hun'. I'm sure everythin' will get sorted out by the end of the races, I know it!"

"But what if it doesn't? What if we're really-"

"Pearly, listen to me. We all know Rusty can be stubborn, he gets it from Poppa. He can play angry all he wants, but I know him well enough that when he can't stand feeling guilty no longer, he'll come right back and you two will make up and be back to normal like nothing happened!"

"... I hope you're right." Pearl leaned over to drink from her ginger ale, before a thought came to her. "Did Rusty say anything else while he was there?"

"Well," Dinah coughed, clearing her throat, "he came in while I was there at your place. When I came in, he and Greaseball had been fightin'... I was surprised that he even cared about the rumor, but I guess that's part of him bein' upset about the other day."

"Oh..."

"I sent them both outside for rough-housin' in my diner, but he was gone when I last checked, so I figure he's gone back to work... But you might keep an eye out in case he decides to try and make up with you!"

"Yeah, I'll try," Pearl laughed half-heartedly as her friend bid her good-bye and hung up the phone. Her chest seemed to grow numb the more she thought about what she'd been told. Was Rusty still that upset? She didn't know what to do now, as she felt the heavy pull of sleep resting upon her. As she dozed off, she wondered if maybe things could work out between them in the end...

* * *

The cut on Rusty's jaw throbbed as he made his way across the yard towards the units. Rather than try and contain himself around Greaseball and Dinah (who was still upset from the other day), he immediately left the diner. He had been planning on heading towards the freight yard, hoping to at least hang out with Dustin or Poppa, but he realized they wouldn't be out due to the rain that was still falling. He changed direction and started towards the engines' garage to at least get out of the rain. As he neared the garage, his mind raced between everything that had been happening. The engine certainly seemed to be thinking a lot to himself nowadays, he thought wryly.

The dim lights of the garage flickered into bright vividness as Espresso and Turnov peeked around the side of the wide open entrance. "Buonasera, steam train," the Italian greeted Rusty as he rolled in. "How's your day been?"

"Not so great, I'm afraid." Rusty was hesitant to say much; not on fear of starting more rumors, but just out of exhaustion from the drama. He headed towards his locker, searching for the key to unlock it. "I'm just ready for it to be over right now.."

"I don't blame you, you know," Turnov grumbled, sitting on a bench by his locker while Espresso fiddled with a kind of cast around his foot. "With Pearl deciding not to race, that puts quite a wet blanket on your plans to race, correct?"

"Well yeah... Wait, how do you know that?"

"Wrench will be Electra's partner this year. I've got wheel problems, and the replacement parts I need won't be in from my homeland until after the races."

Espresso removed the cap from his head, wiping sweat off his brow. "Plus he and Bobo were at the dining car's house last night when... uh... When that all happened."

Rusty swung the door open with a loud bang. "So what, now everyone's having secret little parties now?"

The Italian and Russian engines gave each other a look as Rusty dug through his locker for the rust treatment supplies. They nodded, affirming something in the silence between them. "I believe you've made a mistake in breaking up with Pearl, if you don't mind the two-euros," Espresso said as he slipped his cap back on.

"I do mind, but I doubt that really matters to you." Rusty had started treating the rust spots, drying off before applying a solution to the more affected areas.

"Just listen for a moment. Everyone knows about the fight you had with Electra, and the aftermath of it. There's a right to be upset about it, but overreacting is a dangerous thing to do."

"Do I have to get lectured on this every time it comes up?!"

Turnov sighed heavily, a familiar frustration mounting in his mind. "Tell me this, steam train. Did you really leave her alone that day without letting her explain why she felt the way she did?"

"... She explained a little bit."

* * *

"Rusty, please just listen. I know he seems bad, but he's not that dangerous! He's only angry because someone's spreading rumors about him and-"

Rusty quickly turned to look back at Pearl as they stood in the open. He wasn't sure what he was hearing! "You can't possibly believe that he's not at fault for that fire, right? Right?" Surely she wasn't about to side with Electra after what just happened.

But he wasn't so sure as he noticed her visibly tensing up. She was hesitating. "Rusty... I honestly don't know what to believe. I know he has his moments... but I want to believe he's not that bad of an engine..."

It was like everything froze when Pearl said those words. Something inside Rusty slowly ground to a halt, and the pain from the earlier fight seemed to fade instantly. He didn't know what to say, what to do... But soon the wheels started turning, and emotions started bubbling to the surface.

"... Rusty?"

They were feelings that the steam train was way too familiar with. They were feelings that he didn't want to experience again.

"... Do you really think that?"

He could feel Pearl's grip tighten on his couplers. "What?"

Rusty turned to face her, releasing his couplers from her grasp. "Do you really want to believe he's a good train? After all he's done?"

Pearl's grip on his couplers both eased and tensed back up, like she was searching for an answer "... Rusty, let me explain. I know he's not the friendliest train here, and I know he's done bad things here, but no one acts that upset over anything without a good reason-"

Somewhere inside Rusty's mind, he knew for a moment that she was only being fair. She had to have been acting fair. But the rest of him felt lost in a thick fog, and it seemed to be suffocating him and messing with his mind. With his self-control. His emotions took over, and before Pearl knew it, he left her alone with the words that had become burned into her mind.

"Well if you're so willing to believe that he's so nice and innocent, then just go ahead and race with him, see if I care!"

* * *

The three engines stood in silence in the garage. The tension clung to them like heavy cigarette smoke.

"And you still left her there?"

Rusty stood there with his back turned to the two Nationals, still treating his rust. It was clear from the beginning that the whole thing was emotionally driven, but it was clear now that Rusty was also struggling with it more than he let on. "... I guess so."

Espresso nervously tapped his finger on the bench, while Turnov sat with his arms crossed, staring at his cast. "I think," the Italian started, "you should go talk to her. Let her truly explain."

A clash sounded from Rusty's locker as he put his treatment away and threw the stuff back into the locker before turning to face them. "You know how stupid of an idea that is? She probably doesn't even want anything to do with me now!"

"You won't know that until you try, steam train." Turnov reached behind the bench and pulled out a bottle of alcohol and took a swig from it. "It's only fair, since you didn't give her the chance to really tell her side of the story."

"And if I don't?"

"You'll come to regret it."


	18. Take A Chance

_Author's Notes: I'm about a week and two days behind, but on the 13 of this month, Complicated Matters became a year old! Progress is still going on this story, but it's still very slow. But we march onward! **(Language warning is still active.)**_

* * *

"Well, that's just an outright shame! All that hard work, now for nothing 't all!"

A few of the new coaches sat on the steps of the main hall after the rain had mostly dried up, working their way through the daily gossip they'd heard from the local trains. Of course, the popular topic was about the champion losing his coach, and who his new coach would be.

"They were so cute together, too! But maybe now that he's open for a partner, I could have a chance with him!" The theater car shook in her place, excited at the thought of racing with a champion. "That'd show that creep sleeper what for, I know!"

"Calm down, Soleil," the bar coach from New York spoke up, snuffing out her cigarette on the pavement of the steps. "Nobody knows if he's even gonna race at this point. He ain't asking for any willing girls to step up, as far as I know."

"Just so long as that nasty coach keeps his hands off 'im, I don't care what happens!" The double-decker car stretched out on the steps, her broad shoulder muscles flexing under the tatters of her top's sleeves. "You guys saw how she was actin' at clock-in after we first heard the news. Gigglin' under her breath like it was a joke! Fuckin' rude if you ask me.."

"I don't see why she's so worried about it," Soleil muttered under her breath. "If he wouldn't take her sister to begin with, then what makes her think he'd change his mind?"

"Maybe 'at's why they split up? Seems odd that they've got that going on about the same time, don't it?" The double-decker sat up, tapping her wheels on the ground. "Bet they're not above messin' with other to gain something!"

"Now Viv, that's just absurd!" The green library car shut the book she was reading, looking over at the red-and-black-clad car with a stern look. "I'm sure there's other reasons as to why they split up, and I doubt that the sleeper's got eyes for him now that he's open.

"Well, it's not like anyone else but us are looking for partners so late in the game!" One of the casino cars piped up, her sister asleep beside her as she tossed her red hair back behind her. "We're lucky that Control even said we could participate if we had partners. The odds of it are so far off that it's almost supernatural-"

"Can it, Bally, I'm this close to sockin' you if you use the word 'odds' again." The bar coach known as Snooky stood up, brushing dirt off the back of her leather studded skirt. "Anyone up for visiting the dumped one? I heard she's sick, so it might be nice to go visit her rather than sit around and do nothin'."

"Sounds like a plan," Soleil agreed, standing up and dusting herself off. "Yana? Girls? What about you?"

Yana, the library car, shook her head. "No thanks, I think I'm about to head to my unit."

Bally shook her head. "We're good. Harrah's still ain't feeling well after that round of repairs over at the garage."

"Ain't got much else to do here," Viv said, jumping up from her spot as the pins that decorated her vest rattled. "I'll head over with ya!"

* * *

As the three coaches headed to the units, they continued talking amongst themselves. While on their way to Pearl's unit, one of the coaches noticed a dark-colored engine nearing the coaches' housing. Though she hadn't really gotten to know any of the locals in a friendly fashion, Snooky immediately recognized him and pulled her friends to a nearby hiding location.

"Bally, for freight's sake, what's all that about?" Viv hissed, rubbing the elbow that had accidentally hit against the side of a porch railing when they hid.

"Ssshhhh! I think that's Rusty right there!"

Sure enough, as the coaches watched from behind the corner, Rusty slowly made his way up to Pearl's front door. It wasn't quite clear to them, but he was hesitant in his movement; it was like the engine didn't quite know if he should go ahead and see the coach or if he should turn around and go back to work.

"Is he doin' anything yet?!"

Snooky shushed the double-decker as she craned her neck further for a better look. She had almost said that nothing was happening when an unfamiliar car appeared from the opposite side of the road.

"Who's that?" Soleil inquired; a nagging feeling in her stomach had her wondering if she knew her from somewhere.

"No idea... But she sure is acting buddy-buddy with him. Or at least trying..."

* * *

The rain had ceased when Rusty started back towards the units. He had left the garage, but couldn't quite bring himself to actually start over there. He wasn't sure if he should go ahead and talk to Pearl. On the one hand, there were a lot of things that needed to be settled and clarified. On the other hand, she was currently sick and he didn't want to possibly make her feel worse than she already felt.

But as he got to moving again, he found himself heading towards her unit. His stomach felt as if it were knotting up, and he seemed to have lost whatever appetite he may have had. Would this go over well? He didn't know for certain. He was almost scared to go see her.

Rusty rounded the corner onto the road leading to her unit, and felt butterflies in his broiler. Now was not the time to be indecisive, he scolded himself, but he couldn't help but hesitate at the steps of her unit's porch. He looked up at the window beside the door; he could see the TV was on, but couldn't hear it. There were no lights on, and he didn't feel like peeking around like a creeper.

"Come on, you can do this..." He tried to calm himself, but it was like the butterflies had turned into a blizzard inside his firebox. He couldn't bring himself to move. He had to go up there, he had to see her. He had to say something...

"Fancy seeing you here, Rusty!" The engine spun around to find Sofia coming from the opposite way, a smile on her face as if everything was alright in the world. That smile unnerved him to the core. "What brings you all the way over here? Shouldn't you be at work?"

"I, uh..." Rusty did not want to get involved with her right now. He couldn't. He shouldn't. "I... I just wanted to talk to Pearl, that's all..."

Sofia blinked a few times, her head tilted in what she must've thought was a cute action. "Why would you need to talk to her? After what's happened, most would think you would be prepping for the races with a new coach."

"Most would be wrong about that, obviously."

The sleeper rolled over to him, wrapping her arms around one of his. "Come on, you shouldn't spend this time moping around. You should be training! You're the champion, after all. Control wouldn't like it if you slacked off on the training."

"Control can deal with it. Besides, I haven't signed up for demo runs yet, for obvious reasons."

"Then what's say you and I take a little run on the tracks ourselves? You need a coach, I need an engine, we'd have lots of fun!"

Rusty forced her off his arms, rolling back from her to keep some distance. "What is wrong with you? Do you honestly think getting me to race with you would be that easy?"

Sofia shrugged, a frown light on her face. "I'm just looking out for you, Rusty. After all, Pearl's the one that broke your heart. Again, might I add. And don't think I'm going to let you forget about-"

"The promise, yes, I KNOW. You and everyone else have not let me forget it since it was first brought up."

"Well don't act all huffy about it. You were the one that started it, after all."

"Can't you give it a rest? Now's not the time for you or your sister to start scheming."

Sofia stamped her foot on the ground, her arms crossed to her chest. "And to think I tried to warn Pearl about Electra."

"Yeah right... Wait, warn her?"

"Yes, warn her. I don't know Electra all that well compared to you guys, but even I could tell from a mile away that he's no good! He's an electric, for Starlight's sake-"

"Sofia, you can't just-"

"I'm trying to help you all out, you can't just sit back and let him steamroll you all into the ground like he does! And you can't let Pearl stand there and act like your feelings don't matter!"

That pang of betrayal twisted into Rusty's mind like a jacked-up screw, tearing at the walls of logic he'd built up with a vicious glee. He'd tried hard to push any negativity as he gathered the courage to see Pearl, but now it threatened to rip him a new one as Sofia wrapped an arm around his own and placed the other one on his shoulder as he stood trying hard not to shake.

"Come on, Rusty," the sleeper car sighed. "You know as well as I do that all the other coaches have their eyes on you as a partner, and I don't know about you, but some of those girls haven't even had serious work yet, let alone race before-"

"Are ya done bein' a nuisance?!" The two trains whirled around to face Viv, who had had more than she could stand of the harassment and came out of her hiding spot, with Snooky and Soleil right behind her. "'Cuz I don't think I can stand to hear any more of whatever it is you're spoutin'!"

A streak of red lit up Sofia's face. She wished to lash out at the new coach, but a quick glance between the two clued the sleeper in to the fact that she was far outmatched by the much larger coach, one that rivaled even Greaseball's size. "Gee, aren't we being a little nosy today! Guess you new girls can't go a day without hearin' some new gossip, huh?"

"Can it, switcher," Snooky pushed forward, forcing Sofia to back away from her and Rusty. "No one likes the shit you're pulling, and you'd best be off heading back to where you need to be."

Sofia stared the coaches down, sizing them up before brushing a stray lock of hair away and turning towards the side road, but not before giving a wink and flirty wave towards the steamer, who still stood with his eyes to the ground.

"That is one sleazy coach," Snooky spit out as Sofia rounded the corner, turning back to the others. "And heroics, by the way, aren't always appreciated, Viv."

"Well, 'cuze me for not wantin' to see someone suffer like that! That crap was gettin' unbearable." Viv crossed her arms as she flung a lock of short hair out from her face. "No idea how anyone can put up with her for a long time..."

Snooky turned to Rusty, who still stood, somewhat lost while gazing down at his feet. "You alright, steamer? You don't look so good."

But the steamer didn't respond. He still kept his gaze down, even as the other coaches continued to ask him what was wrong. As they gabbered back and forth about what had just happened, Rusty glanced for a moment towards the window of Pearl's unit. He wondered if she'd seen or heard anything that was going on. He searched the pale pink curtains of any sign that she was there, but no sign presented itself.

"Maybe we should just leave him be, guys," Soleil offered, keeping a distance from the others. "He might be stressed out over everything. We should give him a break."

Viv blew a raspberry towards the theater car, something she'd grown to dislike immesely. "Ooooooor we can take him on over to Dinah's place, and we can grab some lunch-"

"N-no, that's okay!" Rusty had finally snapped out of his stupor and quickly gained his bearings. "I'll just head on home. There's no need to worry about me!"

The coaches were caught off guard by the steam train's sudden change in demeanor. "Ay, are you sure?" Viv pushed forwards, holding a hand out in a friendly manner. "Ain't healthy to keep emotions to yourself."

"No, I'm sure I'll be alright," Rusty repeated, a red tint slowly spreading through his face. "But thanks for asking!" With that, he sped off towards the engines area, leaving the coaches in the dust.

"Are... Are we sure that's supposed to be the yard's champion?" Snooky asked, rubbing the back of her neck.

"Looks like it," Viv sniffed. "Guy's wound tighter that a spring-loaded toy."

A thundering above them alerted them that the clouds were about to open up again, and the coaches agreed to head over to the diner for lunch. But as they started off from the units, Soleil hesitated for a moment, looking back at the pink-shaded curtains of Pearl's unit window. She had wanted to mention it earlier, but thought it best that the group didn't know of the hidden audience they had.


	19. A Little Progress

_Author's Notes: Merry Christmas, readers! Or, uh, Merry Late Christmas. Oops. (Also oops, I nearly posted this without the A/N and edits on it. Double oops.)_

 _This chapter is really just a filler bit to get the story going again, since I hadn't worked on it since the last chapter (1 year anniversary, guys!). But now I've a reason to continue, and it's a new event/plot point! I'm still trying to get life things sorted out (my crappy job is still staring me in the face, mainly), but I'm still working on this as best I can! ... I'm actually thinking this and the previous chapters were reason why I shouldn't make OCs, to be honest... ( **Language warning still in affect** )_

* * *

A thundering above them alerted them that the clouds were about to open up again, and the coaches agreed to head over to the diner for lunch. But as they all started off from the units, Soleil hesitated for a moment, looking back at the pink-shaded curtains of Pearl's unit window. She had wanted to mention it earlier, but thought it best that the group didn't know of the hidden audience they had.

* * *

"Should we tell 'er 'at happened?"

"No, you dingus. Dinah'd get mad at us if she got upset again."

The hidden audience, surprisingly, was a few of Greaseball's gang, sent by Dinah to watch over Pearl in the event that Rusty came in looking for her like he did at the diner. They, of course, hadn't planned on being too occupied, but now they wondered if maybe they were wrong.

"Shouldn't we at least tell the boss 'bout this?" Lube, the youngest of the three present, had been the first to see that something was going on outside. "Y'know, in case either of them come back?"

Tank, the oldest, stayed seated in a cushy pink chair, watching another movie that Pearl had on. "Nah. Knowin' him, he's gonna go lookin' for heads to roll, and I ain't gonna be the bearer of doomsday for some poor soul."

"At least he tried to come and talk," Gook mumbled from the wall beside the window. "I half expected him to chicken out an' run back home."

"I think we all did," Lube laughed, before being hushed by the older boys. "But what do we do now? Can't stay 'ere all day, and she'll flip out when she see we're here."

"We could call for one of the coaches to stay here, right?" Gook quietly headed for the phone. "Dinah just wanted someone to stay until she got off work..."

"Or we can jus' stay here like we were told, and not tell anyone what we saw!" Tank glared at the two smaller diesels. "Y'all are acting like we saw a murder or something!"

Lube snickered to himself. "I won't lie, seeing that coach slide on up to the steamer, it looked pretty predatory to me."

Tank and Gook looked at each other, then back to the younger diesel. "Shut up, man."

* * *

"Listen D, I know you're upset but-"

"But NOTHIN'!"

Meanwhile, back at the diner, Dinah busied herself with washing dishes after the main dinner rush, while Greaseball was put to work sweeping the floor. She was still upset with him for fighting with Rusty in the diner, and she wasn't ready to let him off the hook for it.

"Come on, Dinah, you know how immature he's actin'!" Greaseball swept up a pile of large breadcrumbs from underneath a booth table into a dustpan and dumped it full of contents into a nearby trashcan. "I don't see why you gotta defend him so much!"

"I get why you're upset, but it ain't like I'm not angry at him either." Dinah nearly dropped another plate in her anger, but caught it before it hit the floor. "He did hurt my best friend's feelings, and he is actin' like a child about it too! But even he's been hurt, so I understand where he's comin' from..."

The large diesel groaned; Dinah had _such_ the bleeding heart for Rusty, it was almost like she was his mother. But Greaseball knew the story behind the two, and he wasn't about to try and change her mind about it. The two had grown up together and had been friends all through training school right up until what would be considered the train equivalent to the middle of jr. high. At that point, coaches like Dinah began caring more about their looks and their relationships. And by that time, Greaseball had become one of the top engines in his class, and had begun to make a target of Rusty, over more reasons than just his rust. She had to admit that she did begin to turn a blind eye to the treatment of her friend to further her relationship with the much bigger and stronger engine, but even in doing that, she was still one of the first to be at Rusty's side helping him and cheering him up. It frustrated the diesel to no end, and he had tried to lay down the law with her concerning it multiple times. In the end, he could only turn the other way as his girl played mother to the bruised and injured steamer following more serious beatdowns, even as she grew tired of his affirmations that he would eventually win in the championship no matter what anyone said.

Now, of course, Dinah would be one of the first to admit he was making a big fool of himself.

"Maybe he'll get better about all this once the races are over," Greaseball sighed, feeling exhausted from the sheer thought of it all. "Maybe he'll wisen up to how much of a tool he's being..."

"'Ello, gang!" The bell to the diner's door rang as Viv, Snooky, and Soleil rolled in out of the rain. "It's rainin' cats and dogs out 'ere!"

Dinah dried her hands off with a nearby towel. "Hello girls, y'all come on in! Need somethin' to warm yourselves up?"

"I'll take a cup of coffee," Snooky said, greeting Greaseball with a nod as she wiped down her leather vest with a napkin from one of the booths' napkin dispensers.

"Water for me, please," Soleil affirmed, waving to Greaseball and taking a seat at the bar.

"Can I get a hot tea with lemon?" Viv yawned again, sitting beside Soleil with a *plop*. "It's so cold outside, I could use a lil' warmth!"

"Comin' right up," Dinah said cheerfully, rolling over to the drink station to fix their orders. "So how are y'all enjoying your life here at the AV? Pretty neat, huh?

"Oh it's such a cute yard, I love it here!" Soleil smoothed down her skirt, leaning onto the bar-top. "Everyone's been so nice to us since we came here, I can see why it's the best in the county."

Snooky nodded, tossing the napkin she had into the trashcan nearby before taking a seat beside Viv. "Barring a few minor things, I actually like it here. It's a lot different from the city I came from, so it takes some adjusting."

Viv yawned again, not bothering to cover her mouth. "Yeeah, it would've been much better had we not had to deal with that sleeper hittin' on Rusty earlier-"

Dinah's head whipped around so fast that she could've sworn she heard a neck joint pop. "Sleeper? What sleeper?"

"The one that has the thing for him? The one in the black and white dress? The one that has everyone in a foul-ass mo-"

"WE GET IT." Greaseball threw the dustpan into the trashcan, not caring that it sent up a cloud of dust into the air. "What was she doin' this time?"

Caught off-guard by their sudden change in demeanor (and Greaseball, whom she hadn't actually noticed on the side), Viv was at a loss for words. "Uhhh... Well... we uhh..."

"We decided," Snooky spoke, giving a side-eye to Viv, "that we would go and visit the observation car, Rusty's old partner."

"Her name is Pearl," Dinah said, trying hard to hide any bitterness in her words.

"Pearl, then. We though we should go and see her, seeing as how she was sick and might need some company. On the way over, however, we saw Rusty in front of her unit, and then that sleeper came around and tried to put the moves on him."

"Snooky and Viv scared her off, but when we asked him if he was alright, he just kinda acted funny and sped off. He wouldn't even come with us over here-"

"Which was my idea!" Viv snorted, a big grin on her face. "Ain't right for people to just keep to 'emselves when they're hurtin'!"

For the first time since she first came to the diner today, Dinah laughed so hard it brought tears to her eyes. After she calmed down and her laughter reached a light chuckle, she brought the girls their orders, a smile on her face. "That's good to hear. I was starting to fear he'd just be a basket case 'til after the races!"

"It sounds like he's startin' to wise up finally," Greaseball snorted.

"Maybe, but he still didn't get to talk to Pearl," Soleil added. "He seemed a bit flustered that he was interrupted while trying to talk to her."

"It might be a good thing he didn't," Dinah sighed. "I kinda sent some of Greaseball's gang over to Pearl's house to watch over her, in case he was still cranky after bein' here earlier..."

"He burst in here all pissy tryin' to find her!" Greaseball laughed, getting a glare from Dinah. "He wouldn't calm down, so I had to teach him a lesson- HEY!" An airborne rag whacked the diesel in the face, earning giggles from the coaches.

"All _that_ aside, that means he's starting to rethink his actions. Even he knows how bad he reacted now... I just hate that he didn't get to go see her in the end."

Viv sat her cup down, having been sipping on it during the talk. She pondered for a bit, and then her eyes lit up. "Maybe we could rig up a date for 'em to talk?"

The others stared, Dinah a little confused. "A... date?"

"Yeah! Y'know, get them to meet up somewhere, away from you-know-who and whats-her-face, and let them talk it out!"

"That sounds like an accident waitin' to happen," Greaseball admitted, fishing the dustpan out of the trashcan. "Pearl tries to explain herself, Rusty get 10-kinds-of-upset, and NO PROGRESS IS MADE."

"But it could work!" Soleil sipped on her glass for a moment, sitting it back down quietly. "I mean, if we can get them somewhere where they won't be interrupted- and where the sleeper won't find them- maybe they can fix things between them again!"

Dinah leaned on the bar-top. "I don't know... Rusty would hardly go anywhere with us when Pearl wasn't here, I'm not sure if he'd be up for just goin' anywhere without knowing why..."

"It's worth a shot, ain't it?" Viv pounded her fists on the bar excitedly. "If it works, we'll have the two back together in no time flat!"

Snooky sighed, drinking her coffee with indifference. "It would probably be wiser to just let them work it out themselves, but okay, sounds like a legit idea."

"Then it's settled," Viv cheered, wrapping her arms around Soleil and Snooky. "We're all gonna get the two lovebirds back together! We'll call it 'Operation Lovebird'!"

Snooky blinked, hesitating only a moment before whipping around to glare at her friend. "Who said I was gonna help you?!"

Even Greaseball caught the implication as the girls laughed. "WHO SAID I WAS HELPIN'?!"


	20. A Brief Interlude

_Author's Notes: Chapter 20! Finally, after so long, an update to the story! And also some good news: after saving money and being a hard-working employee that files her taxes, I have finally managed to get a brand new laptop! I'm hoping now that story-writing can progress even faster now that I have something I don't have to baby every night when I'm working._

 _Because it's the first chapter post-new-laptop, it's really just a quick practice chapter. I got stuck just prior to this chapter, so it took me a bit to break out of the writer's block I had even when I had the old laptop out and working on this. **Language warning still in affect.**_

* * *

The mid-day clock rang out as the trains dispersed for lunch the next day, signifying the start of the lunch break, but though the sun was shining bright among the trainyard, some of the trains felt a heavy cloud hanging above them.

"This is stupid," Flat-top drawled as he and Dustin headed towards the units. "Why does ev'rybody gotta be so wound tight about all this drama?!"

"It sounds like you ain't too invested in it," Duvay called as she rolled to a stop beside them. "You'd think you'd be more into it since your friends are involved."

"Well it ain't like it affects me! Everyone's actin' like they're all personally affected by it!"

Dustin chewed on a piece of candy, only mildly attentive to what his friend was saying. "But aren't you worried 'bout Rusty and Pearl too?"

"Of course!" Flat-top sniffed. He hadn't been real fond of Pearl when she first arrived, but the coach was a lot nicer than Ashley and Buffy usually were. "It's just... It's just... How many weeks 'ave they been the center of attention now?"

"Grin and bear it, Flat-top. I predict there's gonna be a lot more of this in the next few weeks." Duvay yawned, picking the pace up beside the boys. "Speaking of drama, there's one of the troublemakers now," she said, pointing up ahead to one of the convertibles, standing by a corner fixing her lipstick. The smell of stale smoke was very noticeable around the area, but Cassie didn't seem aware of the attention she was getting.

Flat-top snickered as they rolled past her. "Most people don't like garbage sittin' by their houses... Think I should tell the trash guys to come pick it up?"

"Only if you'll tell them to pick up the garbage you call a social life, boy." Cassie smiled smugly as the brick truck had to be restrained by Duvay and Dustin to keep him from making a scene. "You AV kids sure do like to talk a lot of noise for such boring lives you lead."

"Who asked you?" Duvay demanded, holding back the urge to run and tackle the other sleeper. "Everything was fine here up until _you_ showed up, alongside your sister not minding her business!"

"At least my sister stays faithful to her engine. Don't think I haven't heard stories of the others, including your sister, fawning over that brute of a diesel you all had as a former champion."

"Speakin' of engine," Flat-top butted in, "are you gonna be in the races? Looks as though you ain't got a partner!"

"I've no need for the races. They only feed engines' egos after all, while using their partners as accessories or as their own personal cheat."

"Like you're any better," Duvay grunted, earning a glare from the convertible.

"Either way," Cassie continued, kicking off from the group. "I at least get to watch all the fun from a safe distance. I'll let you guys worry about getting your faces decked in by the other engines. Enjoy your looks while they last, kiddos."

The trio watched the convertible leave, imminent rage simmering through Duvay and Flat-top. Dustin sat, still munching on his candies.

"How anyone can stand her is beyond me," Duvay yelled, stomping her foot to the ground as she fluffed her pillows. "Why do trains like her have to exist in this world?!"

"Prob'ly to balance out how many naive do-gooders are out there," Flat-top snarked.

"Like Rusty?"

"... Most of the time, yeah."

* * *

"Oy, Electra. We gotta talk."

The electric engine had been having a hard time finding something to occupy his time in the warm afternoon hours, having decided on polishing his gear for the umpteenth time, but his solitude was interrupted by a sharp rapping upon the metal of the engine's garage. Electra sighed, not sure if he was up for a round of verbal jousting with Greaseball, but it sounded like that was the direction they were headed. "Can this wait, oil slick? I've a need for some alone time-"

"Not this time. You've got some work to do, and don't worry, I don't mean actual hard labor."

Electra smirked, turning to face the diesel, who stood with his arms across his barrel chest. "Let me guess… Is this about the local ex-lovebirds?"

"In a way, yes." Greaseball rolled to a nearby chair and whipped it around, taking a seat in front of the other engine with a **thud**. "I know you don't really care for the whole thing aside from your image, but I'm getting real tired of these convertibles runnin' amok and causin' trouble in our yard."

"And what exactly," Electra hissed, leaning in, "do you want _me_ to do about it?"

Greaseball leaned onto the back of the chair, resting his chin on his crossed arms. "You and your posse are good with computers, right? I want you to dig up any info you can on the trainyard fire."

"What do I look like, a government spy?"

"Hear me out, metalhead. If you didn't cause that fire then somethin' or someone did, and we need to find out what."

Electra leaned back against the chair he was sitting in, stretching his arms back behind it. "I hate to tell you this, but I've tried that before, just after the fire happened. Not only did I not find anything, but frankly at that point I didn't care, and this point I still don't care. I know I didn't set the fire, and that's good enough for me."

"So then you want your superstar reputation besmirched by a hussy and her weak-kneed little sister? Or are your two-fucks already out the window with the rest of your non-existent cares in the world?!"

"My reputation was besmirched the day I lost to a damn steamer!" Electra stood up, sparks flying around him. "And he can suffer through his own damn problems without my help."

"And what about Pearl?"

"What about her?"

"This isn't just affectin' Rustbucket, it's affectin' Pearl too. I hate seeing it too, believe me, but seeing her so miserable, and seeing Dinah sigh and cry every day about how hurt she is is beginnin' to drive me up the Great Wall of China!"

Electra gritted his teeth; he was still spiteful against Rusty for being as incompetent as he was being, but the fact that Pearl even gave Electra the benefit of the doubt had him feeling a sense of pity for her shattered heart. If he did anything, it would be to give her hope for better days and to prove that asshat of a steamer wrong.

"Well?! I ain't got all day, Sparky!"

After a moment of silence, Electra sighed and leaned forward again. "I'll see what I can do. If only for her sake."

* * *

 _If you like what you see, give it a like! Reviews and CC are always appreciated!_


	21. A Storm is Brewing (Part 1)

_Author's Notes: Apparently I'm still working on getting every character accounted for in this story. But I figured out I had to backtrack past an idea I had, as it wouldn't have been very sensible to have it happen. I also needed to use some characters this round that I hadn't used in a while, and I still have some I need to use anyway. I'M GETTING THERE, OKAY. **Language warning still in effect.**_

* * *

"Hard to believe so much has happened in such a short time, huh?"

"Yeah, it's making my head spin faster than the shed's windmill!"

The Rockies sat around the fire at the freight yard, while Flat-top, Dustin, and Caboose sat nearby, the two trucks playing a game of cards. The atmosphere smelled of rain; they had predicted a light chance of it on the news, Poppa had said.

"Can we please stop talkin' 'bout what's goin' on?" Flat-top groaned. "I can hardly 'ear m'self think without someone bringin' up that shit."

"Sorry, dude," Rocky 3 replied. "But it really is bafflin', ain't it?"

"Crazy, man," Rocky 1 added. "And so close to race time, too."

"Why can't we just 'ave one race season without someone startin' schoolyard drama?!" The brick truck tossed his cards down, aggravated to no end. "Is no one else tired of it all?"

"It's not like any of us wanted this to happen," Caboose mumbled, laying his cards down on the ground. "We're just as fed up with it as you are."

"And yet no one's done anythin' 'bout it!"

"You can't **do** anything about it, that's the problem!" Rocky 1 stood up, squaring up against the brick truck. "Those two ain't gonna get back together until they talk things out, and when they do get back together, then this whole thing can blow over and everything will be back to normal."

"Will it, though?" Dustin sighed. "I'm worried 'bout Rusty. He ain't been over to talk or hang out in a while, and he hardly talks durin' work nowadays..."

"He's just too far up his rear-end to think straight," Rocky 2 sneered. "He knows he goofed up, it's just a matter of time until he goes to fix-"

"I love how everyone just insists on making it look like I'm at fault for everything." The freight turned to look at Rusty, who had just come from further in the sub-yard, finally finished with his work.

"Could've fooled me," Caboose hissed, debating in his head whether he regretted not killing Rusty last year or not.

Rusty shot a dirty look at the brake truck. "Whatever. You all can keep your opinions to yourselves," he grumbled as he took a seat on a barrel away from the group. "I'm sure Electra gets a kick out of y'all talking crap on me, anyway."

The Rockies waved off the steamer as they returned to their earlier conversation, but Dustin eyed him down with a heavy look on his face. As Flat-top and Caboose returned to their game, Dustin got up and eased his way to sit next to his friend. Rusty only sat there, working on his wheels and not bothering to look up and greet him. "You okay, Rusty," he asked quietly.

"I'm fine, Dustin." He didn't even look up from his work.

"Ah… I got a new movie we can watch, it's one of those funny action movies you really like-"

"I'm good." Still didn't look up.

Dustin couldn't help but frown at the reception he was getting. "Rusty, this ain't like you at all… I miss hangin' out and you really-"

"I said I'm good! I'm doing fine, I don't need to be watched over!" Rusty did look up that time, and he looked angry. He'd never once been angry towards Dustin, and the big hopper never wanted to make him angry. To see Rusty bite back like that, it sent a chill up Dustin's framework.

"I- I'm sorry.." Before the Rockies even turned around, and before Rusty could even register what had been done, Dustin clumsily stood up and sped off from the freight yard.

"What the hell did you do now?!" Rocky 1 raced over to Rusty in a flash, grabbing him by the sleeve of his shirt; he hadn't caught anything Dustin asked, but the shouting was enough to raise his temper higher than it even needed to be. "What's your problem, dude? How far up your ass are you that you can't even talk to your friends right anymore?!"

This time, Rusty was at a loss for words. He really had goofed up now.

* * *

Dark clouds hung over the yard; no one felt the buzz of excitement as Control announced the list for racers participating in demo runs. As expected, Greaseball and Dinah were listed, along with Electra and Wrench. Most of the Nationals returned with their previous partners (Princey even signed up with an estatic Rocky 1), and Yana and Snooky managed to hitch up with the new Nationals. But as other teams were listed, Pearl could barely keep down her breakfast. She wasn't quite over the stomach flu yet, but she didn't want to miss out on work. But she couldn't help but notice that Rusty's name hadn't been called for demo runs.

Did it mean he wasn't racing? Or had he just not found a new partner yet? Her mind was swimming so fast she feared her cereal and banana would come back up for a visit. But she was determined to not let it interfere with her day back. And if that meant readily ignoring Rusty, she was ready!

 _Okay_ , she reasoned with herself, _maybe ignoring him is too strong a word_. _Maybe just playing hard to get, that sounded much better_ -

"PEARRRRRRRRLIEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-!" The observation car was thrown off balance by the rush of weight that hit her square on the back and wrapped around her. It spun her around until Pearl really truly felt that her breakfast was only centimeters from reaching the open air.

Actually, she was probably seconds from letting it go. "PLEASE LET ME GO I DON'T FEEL WELL," she screamed, not caring even once who heard her.

Surprisingly, Joule's white-and-red face peeked out from behind her, a small frown on her face. "I'm sorry, are you okay? I just hadn't seen you in a while!"

"Yeah, I just came back to work," Pearl stammered groggily, well aware that people had seen her outburst. "I'm not quite sure I made a good decision in doing so now..."

"No, no, this is good!" Joule practically bounced in her place. "I bet you want to know everything that's happened-"

"No I don't..."

"Well that's okay too!" Joule clasped her hands together. "I was wondering, since most of the coaches aren't working today, would you and the other girls like to join us for lunch today? Wrench made gumbo last night, and she made too much for us to eat a lone."

"I didn't know Wrench cooked things like that," Pearl admitted. "Is it good? I've had Dinah's before, but hers' is usually too spicy for my liking."

"Nah, she makes hers' just right for everyone! She's such a mom figure, y'know?" Joule took Pearl's hands and gripped them tight. "Hey, I can even let you have some right now, let's go!" With that, she turned and practically kidnapped Pearl from the main hall. As the girls bounded down the steps and towards the repair truck's unit, Pearl very nearly thought for a second she had seen a glimpse Rusty right before leaving the main hall.

* * *

"You're gonna love it, it even has little shrimp in it!" Joule hopped up the steps, knocking on and opening the already-apparently-unlocked front door, pulling Pearl into the unit and shutting the door. Once inside, however, Pearl found herself face-to-face with Viv, Snooky and Soleil, along with Dinah and Greaseball, who was currently arguing with Volta and Wrench regarding… something that Pearl likely didn't want to know about.

"Oh, Pearl, thank Starlight ya came to work after all!" Dinah, having seen Pearl coming in, rushed over to her and guided her to the table they surrounded. "I was beginnin' to think you'd be like Rusty when he got sick!"

"I…." Pearl wasn't sure where to start. "…. What is this….?"

"We want to help you get your boyfriend back!" Viv grinned widely, her wheels propped up on the table. "We can't waste any time at all!"

"…. Oh..."

"I'm sorry, forgive her," Snooky waved Viv off, giving the double-decker car a playful shove. "She forgot to introduce us. That's Viv, this coach over here is Soleil, and I'm Snooky. We're some of the new coaches."

"Nice to meet you… I'm sorry, but… Where is this coming from?"

"It's like an intervention, Pearl." Dinah sighed, unsure if this was how she wanted to get the two back together. "Everyone's gettin' tired of seeing the two of y'all mope around like the end is near! You're just takin' things as is and Rusty's becomin' more irritable by the second..."

"He's not that bad, is he?" Pearl sat down at the table, brushing her hair back behind her.

"He's gettin' there," Greaseball wheezed, having been rudely awoken by Viv pounding on his front door earlier for their 'top-secret meeting'. "From what the brick truck has told me, the Rockies wound up having to set him straight on something."

"Needless to say, he's alienating himself very quickly," Volta summarized, shooting an ignored glare towards Viv. "The consensus is that some want to make you get back together, while more sane people want you two to work things out yourselves like adults."

"How exactly are we supposed to do that?" Pearl rested her head on her propped-up arm. "I've yet to see Rusty today, and he hasn't come to me yet, so I doubt he's thinking of trying to work things out..."

Viv started to add something, but Wrench interrupted her. "The problem lies in the fact that he still hasn't cooled down from the argument with Electra to even think straight. To force you two back together would be relationship suicide at this point."

"And even if he has tried, that doesn't mean it would've been successful." Snooky took a sip of her cup of coffee. "That's why we're here; so we can help you figure out what you want to do."

"And eat some gumbo!" Joule added.

Pearl sighed heavily, then stretched her arms out. "I appreciate you guys trying to be helpful, but I don't think I should try and do anything."

Dinah slammed her hands down on the table, far too hard for anyone's liking. "Now Pearl, don't go sayin' that quitter talk!"

"Please understand, Dinah, it's not as simple as it was last year!" She could feel tears closing in; she didn't want to do things like this. "It's not as easy as 'saying sorry' this time… I want to be with him, but I can't do that when what he's feeling is my fault."

"Except it's not truly your fault," Dinah countered. "We all know Electra didn't start that fire, and Rusty had no way of knowing anything about the fire unless one of us told him."

"We still don't really know if he knows anything about it now other than the rumor of Electra starting it, either," Volta added.

"Regardless, I don't want to force him to be back with me." Pearl stood up from her seat, her hands nervously fiddling with the hem of her skirt. "I'm willing to wait for him if I can."

"You can't honestly expect him to make the first move on this!" Greaseball bolted upright. "That idiot will fumble around and lose all of what's left of his friends before he even thinks of gettin' back with you!"

"So?! I'd like it much better if he was willing to talk to me at all rather than making him confront me like a child! And if it takes waiting a long time, then so be it!" Pearl turned from her spot and headed for the door, trying hard not to cry though her insides were doing flips.

As Pearl left the unit, Dinah swiftly smacked Greaseball on the arm. "What was that about?! Couldn't you keep from hurtin' her feelings?"

"It ain't like I intended to," Greaseball defended himself adamantly. "I told y'all doin' this was stupid, so it ain't all my fault she's upset!"

As Dinah and Greaseball bickered, Volta and Wrench slunk back into their seats. They were getting tired of all the arguing that was going on. "Well," Volta sighed, rubbing her temples, "at least now we can focus on more important things."

"Like findin' info on the fire, right?" Greaseball huffed as Wrench stood up from her chair, making her way towards the kitchen as Joule came around and took her seat quietly. "We should probably get the whole blame game on that outta the way before we even try to deal with those two again."

Viv snorted sharply. "How much you wanna bet one of those convertibles did it?"

"I can see the older one doing it, but not the younger one."

"Does it matter which one?" Joule whined, arms stretched out over the table. "So long as it's not Electra, does it even matter?"

"It does if someone needs to be held accountable for it," Dinah said, tapping her fingers on the table lightly. "Control was able to hold Caboose accountable for some of his wreckings, so maybe we can get whoever started it to be accountable for their crimes."

"Y'all act like this is some new episode of Forensic Files or something..."

"The problem here," Wrench added, rolling out from the kitchen with a few bowls of warmed-up gumbo, "is that they could only be held accountable in the state that the old trainyard was in. Whether the state wants to press charges for arson now is up for debate." She sat the bowls down on the table before each of the guests before heading back to the kitchen. "Meaning, even if we find out who did it, they may get away with it after all."

"I've got Sparkmeister looking into whatever he can to find out about it," the big diesel said as he dug into his bowl of food, taking a heaping spoonful before his face turned blank. "… Cranehead, did you make this?"

Wrench peeked around the corner at the bigger engine. "Yes..?"

Greaseball looked back at the gumbo before he frowned at the repair truck. "This is bland as hell!"

* * *

 _Reviews and CC are always appreciated!_


	22. A Storm is Brewing (Part 2)

_Author's Notes: ... Well shit. Over a month later, and the best I can do right now is one chapter. Alrighty then. **Language warning because I'm sorry.**_

 _So this chapter has been partially pre-written for a while now, but I got stuck on how to proceed and reach end-point for it. I apologize for the timeline, it probably seems like too much is going on through the few days that the past few chapters have covered (being a dramatic train is a busy lifestyle, dont-cha-know), but at the very least, this is the point where we now work on all characters getting back on the same page. Barring the next chapter, which has more tears, I think we're past the majority of Pearl crying. Which is getting painful to write because I WANT TO STOP HURTING MY BABIES._

 _Except Rusty, because he deserves every bit of it right now._

* * *

Pearl had intended to head to her car to clean it, even though she hadn't been scheduled for any upcoming runs, but after leaving the unit she wasn't sure where she needed to be. Had she signed in? She couldn't remember… She was standing in the main hall, hearing about the racers who had signed up for the demo runs, and….. She hadn't clocked in yet! The dark clouds above had almost turned black, and it was still barely 9 in the morning. There wasn't much of a breeze when she left her unit either, but now there was now a fierce wind blowing, and the smell of moisture was heavy in the air. Pearl shivered, rubbing an arm in reflex as she started towards the main hall again. The wind threatened to topple her and many of the other trains that were milling about at the moment, but she steeled herself to make it to the hall doors before the clouds opened up, releasing their load upon the trainyard.

"Pearl! You're late!" One of the elder coaches mumbled as the observation coach neared the desk again, her hair now far from its' perfectly styled state. "The rules state that-"

"I know, I know," Pearl sighed, clocking in before the elder could get another word in. "I was interrupted before, just let me do this and I'll get to work.." She hoped it would still be a peaceful day despite the weather. Maybe the Starlight would be kind today-

"Pearlie! There you are, I was wondering if you'd show up today!" It wasn't a voice she was familiar with. She'd heard it before somehow, and yet something about it was off...

Pearl turned to face this coach, and was surprised to find that it was one she wasn't quite familiar with. She'd seen her around, but a name wasn't coming to mind… "Hm? Oh, yes…. I was out with a stomach virus yesterday…. I don't think I've quite gotten over it yet, but I didn't want to miss out on work..."

"I see, that's too bad… It probably would've been better if you stayed home after all."

"Huh?" The sounds of the wind and rain picking up could be heard inside the hall, but it almost seemed like background chatter to Pearl. "Why's that?"

"I don't know if you've heard or not, but rumor has it that your boyfriend is going to race with a new girl this year."

Pearl grimaced, not wanting to be reminded of… well, that. "Well… I'm afraid that's not my business. I don't have a boyfriend anymore."

"Oh? So you and Rusty are no longer an item after all?"

"No, we're not."

"So then I guess you won't mind that he's dating that new girl Sofia, huh? I wondered why they were spending so much time together. Even for race partners, they're stuck to each other like glue!"

As much as she wanted to leave the conversation, Pearl couldn't help but freeze up at the news. "... What?"

"It's probably best that you haven't seen them, but they've been inseparable for a while now. I guess after he broke up with you, he moved on to find someone better."

"What do you mean by better?!"

"Well I don't mean to stir up bad memories, but everyone knows about how you treated him last year. I'm sure he's decided that if you're going to saddle up with that electric engine again-"

Pearl crossed her arms to her chest quickly. "Now hold on! Not once did I say I was racing with anyone else this year, why can't people ask before they assume things?!"

"Well you did just let him walk away after he uncoupled you… And you sure are defensive of that other engine despite what he's done."

"There you go again assuming things! I'm certain that Electra's not at fault for whatever happened in the past, so why don't you just drop all this and leave me alone!"

"Oh come on, honey, don't kid yourself. If Rusty had wanted someone as unfaithful as you back, he would've done so already, don't you think? Instead, he's going to be racing with that sweet new girl, someone far better and more loving than you'd ever be, and he won't even take a second glance at you after it's all done."

By now the hall had mostly emptied, and save for the two coaches, there was hardly a caring soul in the room. Pearl struggled to not let herself break down here and now, but she felt she was definitely fighting a losing battle. "...You… You don't know that.."

"Oh, I bet I do. After this little fuss you've all had, there's no way he's gonna come back after being betrayed two years in a row. I'm sure you think it's easy to just look past something like that, and I bet you thought you wouldn't wait long for him to come back, but it just ain't that simple, doll. You'd be better off staying at home during the races after all you've done. You're old news now."

A loud rumble echoed through the hall, and the lights flickered wildly, sending the hall into darkness for a short moment. And in that moment, any control Pearl had was gone. When the lights switched back on, Pearl's hands were at her ears, and she could do nothing to keep tears from welling up. The other coach turned away for a moment, and the sound of a lighter being flicked could be heard. Before Pearl could say anything, the sound of a door opening and new voices entered into the room.

"Pearl?" A chill ran up her framework as she recognized the new voice. But the last thing she wanted to do was even look towards them. Towards _him_.

* * *

"Pearl?" Rusty had just come from one of the back offices, sorting out more paperwork due to the influx of transfers the trainyard had been having. Normally the elder coaches would sort things out, but as they were getting more impaired, they needed a hand with some of the work, and Rusty, having been put to work inside often enough thanks to bad weather, he offered to help out for the morning until he left for evening services. He was surprised to find the pink coach at work today, considering how serious Dinah had made her stomach flu out to be.

But any possible happiness he'd had turned sour when he saw who else was in the hall: there stood Cassie with a new cigarette in her fingers, the smoke drifting higher into the ceiling of the hall. And that same smug look that made any train retch in disgust now sat proudly upon her face.

Cassie noted this, and waved lazily to the steamer. "Well hello there, Rusty. Finalized plans yet?"

Plans? Rusty crossed his arms, trying to figure out what she was talking about as he rolled closer. Had they been talking about him? He didn't doubt it for a second… But then he glanced at Pearl. She hadn't look back at him once while he'd been in the room. His mind made the assumption that she was likely avoiding him out of shame, but something was nagging him… "What are you talking about?"

Another loud rumble shook the hall as Cassie took a drag from her cigarette. "For the races, obviously. You're racing with Sofia after all, I'm sure. Have you registered yourselves into the demo races yet?"

The steamer groaned; he'd had more than enough of this topic, and he just wanted to get back to work. His eyes wandered again to Pearl, who still hadn't turned to face him. Surely she wouldn't stay quiet during this… "You know how to read, why don't you-"

Once more, a rumble rocketed through the hall, and with it came another flicker of the lights, sending the hall once more into darkness. Pearl yelped, and the windows rattled as rumble after rumble echoed through the space. The lights came back to life, and the trains could see once more. This time, however, Pearl was knelt down on the floor, her hands still at her ears.

"I'm waiting, steam train." Cassie stood impatiently between the two, rolling her wheels back and forth. "Today's the last day to register for demo runs, surely you can't be that careless to forget it until the last minute."

"I don't know who you're calling careless but-" * **BEEEEEP***

"This is Control! This is Control! Demo runs are postponed due to race track damage, I repeat, demo runs are postponed due to race track damage!"

The three trains stood silently in the hall, as the speaker clicked into silence. And for a moment, no one could think of anything to say. Cassie merely shrugged, and slowly left the main hall, smoke softly floating behind her.

Another moment, then there was a sniffle. And finally a sob.

"… Pearl?"

Before Rusty could even think to clear the distance between them, Pearl had stood up and sped out of the hall, leaving Rusty alone.

* * *

The wind and rain whipped around as Pearl raced back to her unit, strands of her hair flying in every direction as she fought against the stormy weather. The thunderclouds rumbled above her, making her shake as she jumped up the steps to her units, quickly unlocking the door and stepping in before quickly locking the door and falling to the floor in a sobbing mess. She hated the fact that she'd been so nice to Sofia before, and she hated how she hadn't been able to see what Rusty was so worried about. Now Sofia's gotten her spot beside Rusty, and she'd never get to be with Rusty again. She'd hoped they would've gotten a chance to talk before the races started, but the demo runs' allotted time following the track's would now be cut in half to allow for the full championship schedule without running over into the spring traffic rush. And with the engines' preliminary checks and freight runs having eaten up a large part of Rusty's time, it hardly left Pearl with any chance to go find him herself and talk to him. Now it'd leave them with even less time to get things sorted out….. If they could even be sorted out.

Pearl felt really crappy, as Flat-top would likely put it, but now that everyone would be off practicing their runs or going over tactics for winning the race, she couldn't think of anyone to talk to. She couldn't go to Dinah, Buffy or Ashley, and Duvay and the other coaches would no doubt be watching the engines, just like she used to when engines raced at her old trainyard. The freight boys would likely be with Rusty as he practiced alongside Sofia, no doubt. The components would be with Electra as well, and she didn't want to bog Poppa and Belle with her troubles either. Pearl just didn't know who to turn to now. Slowly she got up and rolled to the bar of her unit's kitchen, where the phone sat. On the answering machine, the light was off; no new messages had been left on it. Once upon a time, she'd come home to find quite a few messages left on her machine, but now it seemed like that time had long come and gone.

The coach sighed heavily, feeling the adrenaline of the race home fading away into a sluggish pull. She pushed off towards her room, stopping for a moment in the hallway to glance at a few pictures that hung on the wall. One of them was of her group of friends in Dinah's diner; Pearl, Ashley and Buffy sitting at the bar with Dinah peeking out from behind them. Beside it was a picture of Pearl from when she moved to her new unit, a "Welcome!" sign hanging from the front of the window in big bright letters and balloons tied to the rain of the front steps. And beside it was a picture of her and Rusty at the diner. They were sitting in a booth, and it showed the two in a fit of laughter; their faces were red from whatever had made them laugh until their stomachs hurt. It had been a candid picture, sneaked in by Buffy who caught the two having a mini-date when Dinah had "left early" one day. Tears welled in her eyes as she remembered that exact day, just like it had been yesterday.

Pearl had been content to sit at home following a run that day, but Rusty insisted they do _something_ while there was still daylight to enjoy. She caved when he mentioned a surprise at the end of it. So they got out and made a trip around the area, gasping at the lush greenery that had arrived with the end of the stormy June weather. As they returned, Rusty had asked if she was ready for her surprise. Pearl had almost forgotten about it, and complied with him as he guided her to the diner with her eyes closed. When they got inside, Rusty guided her to a table, and told her to open her eyes. He had asked Dinah to help make a dinner of a few dishes she liked, and asked that she let the two have alone time at the diner.

Pearl cried at the thought of it as she remembered everything that she'd seen. She cried as she remembered how much fun they had had that afternoon. She cried as she remembered that being only a few short weeks after the last championship. She cried as it felt like every precious memory of their time together was being ripped out of her.

* * *

 _Reviews and CC are always appreciated!_


	23. Don't Give In

_Author's Notes: So last time I was a month late on updating for this story. This time I'm four months late.  
_

 _Oddly enough, I've had the drive to work on this coming back the past few months, but between work, vacation, and a very fun experience in Austin, TX, I've not had the chance to get on and write fully on it to the point where I could crank a chapter out. And then today happened, and then I found out I had 8 pages worth of new content to post. AT LEAST SOMETHING GOT DONE. /zombie moaning/_

* * *

"What have you gone and done now?!" The anger in Rusty's voice was rising as he sped around the corner of the main hall's outer wall away from the rain, finding Cassie in what seemed to be a rather joyous mood despite the wild weather and the news of the postponing of the demo runs. "What did you do to Pearl?"

Cassie laughed, an act that left Rusty reeling inside from the smell of smoker's breath mingling with springtime humidity. "I've done nothing wrong, if that's what you're implying. I only told her the truth, that you were racing with Sofia now. I figured she already knew that by now, poor girl must've wanted a refresher course in it."

"That's a load of bull. She would've accepted that a lot better than whatever you really told her. You must really have no limits to how low you'll go."

"Don't get high and mighty with me like you're not at fault. You're the one that tried to skimp out on racing with Sofia, when you should've just agreed to it in the first place."

Rusty crossed his arms, his temper and patience well beyond the limit. "I've already told you and Sofia that it was conditional. I'd only race with her if I had a partner, which I had-"

"At the time, yes. But don't you know that it's better to keep your promise rather than make conditions you can't guarantee? I mean, after all, you and Pearl aren't a thing anymore."

"What difference does it make to you?! That only benefits Sofia, not you, so why do YOU even care?"

Cassie only shrugged as she lit another cigarette, shielding it from the wind. "I just want my little sister to be happy." She rolled by, the nasty smoke wafting through the air and catching in Rusty's face. "I'd figure you'd want the same thing if your little sister wanted to make a dream come true."

As the coach rolled away, Rusty bitterly thanked the Starlight he didn't have a little sister. But still he gazed towards the units, wondering if Pearl was alright. The thunder rumbled ominously above them, something Rusty hated as his rusted joints ached. He should've remembered that Pearl hated storms.

* * *

The power flickered again as Pearl laid inside her bedroom at the unit, her face buried into a pillow as she sobbed and wailed. She felt so foolish for crying so much, like a child that had been denied a new toy or candy, but at the same time she ached from the idea that Rusty would move on so quickly. She wanted to reason with herself that maybe he was still wanting to come back to her, but still she admonished herself for allowing herself to be so blind. _He's just being stubborn_ , one side protested. _He's moved on_ , the other side screamed. Pearl felt like her head would split in two.

As she rolled over to her back, her mind wandered to when she had first arrived at the trainyard, and when they'd been getting ready for last year's race. She'd been so young and naive at that time that she honestly didn't know the problem with being so young and naive. It hurt to think that she didn't know any better, and now that she could see what was wrong back then, it felt even worse that they were now dragged into another disaster.

The sky rumbled and flashed, and once more the lights went out. This time, however, the lights did not turn back on. Pearl shivered as she hugged the pillow closer to her. She didn't mind being in the dark, but she truly hated storms; the loud crash of thunder and the blinding flashes of lightning frightened her to the core, something only a few trains knew of. (The absurdity of being afraid of lightning, yet still being attracted to Electra during the championship was not lost on those that knew; Pearl adamantly pointed out that there's a vast difference between an electric engine shooting bolts and bolts coming out of the sky.) But still it scared her to the point that she could not bring herself to try and leave the bedroom.

A boom of thunder rattled the windows sharply, and a squeak escaped from Pearl's mouth. She prayed hard for the storm to stop, for _everything_ to stop. It almost became silent as she prayed-

And then a hard rapping on the front door made her yelp out in fear. Someone was outside? Surely not…

Sure enough, the knocking occurred again, and Pearl rushed up from her bed towards the living room, grabbing a nearby flashlight as some sort of protection in case it was a rogue creep at her door. She nearly tripped over herself in anxiety, but made it to the door and peeked through the peephole. It was in vain, as she couldn't see anyone in the line of sight. "Who's there?!"

She could hear someone talking on the other side, but it was hard to distinguish who it was speaking. Then they knocked again. Pearl only sighed in weak frustration and unlocked the door briskly, before swinging it open. "Who is it- OH!"

On her doorstep stood a thoroughly soaked trio of Duvay, Dustin, and Caboose, to Pearl's surprise. The three had been talking at the freight yard entrance when the storm started, and were about to take shelter when Duvay spotted Pearl rushing across the yard back to her unit. After she and Caboose argued about what to do (especially when one of them noticed Rusty and Cassie just around the edge of the wall just after Pearl's exit), Dustin made the executive decision to make the trek across the rain-logged tracks to the coach's unit, where they now stood under the awning of the porch. "G-good mornin' P-Pearl," Dustin greeted her between chattering teeth. "May we come in for a bit?"

"… Uh, sure! Come right in..." Pearl rolled out of the way as the three cars made their way in, shaking from the cool air of the unit breezing across their sopping wet shells. She quickly grabbed some towels from her bathroom cabinet and handed them each one as she took a seat on the couch. "… Guess that rain took everyone by surprise?"

"I'll say! My pillows probably took in a pint of rain each!" Duvay had removed her pillows from her hairbun and was squeezing them out with the towel. "That's some freak storm outside!"

"The weather report didn't say anything about torrents of rain, did it?" Caboose sneered as he dried off his shoulderboxes. "Had I known it'd be this much, I wouldn't have even tried to get my truck cleaned up."

"I guess it built up a lot more than anyone expected," Pearl said, glad to have the distraction from her current emotional state. "You can't always predict what they'll do..."

"I guess so," Caboose frowned. He scratched his head, then finally sat down on a seat nearby. "So…. I think you know why we're all here.."

"Caboose," Duvay warned.

"Now Duvay, I don't even want to hear you object now. You suggested it, and now we're here, so-"

"Are you alright, Pearl?" Dustin had stood quietly and dried himself off, watching the three as they made small talk, but he could tell that Pearl was still distracted. "We saw ya leavin' the main hall in a hurry.."

Pearl blinked, and tried to smile. "It's nothing. I just hate storms, that's all-"

"No it's not," Caboose tsk-ed. "We saw who else left the main hall."

Pearl's smile wavered. _Be strong_ , she ordered herself, _just be strong_! "I'm telling you everything's okay, I just wanted to-"

Duvay came and sat by Pearl, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Pearl, it's okay."

Silence. Pearl sighed, and hung her head. The flashlight was still in her hands. She sighed again, and she gave in. "… I don't know what to do anymore."

"What do you mean?" Duvay asked, putting her pillows back in her hair.

"… I don't think I can keep faith in hoping for a happy ending anymore. I can't keep hoping that Rusty would take me back after hurting him twice. And I can't keep having faith in something like that when no matter where I turn, every memory I have of him only brings back the pain of losing him in the first place!"

Caboose leaned back in his seat, a grimace on his painted face. "So… you're _giving up_?"

"Well, have you got a better idea?" The pink girl slammed the flashlight into the couch cushion. "There's not much time until the races anyway, and it's not like I have much time to even talk to him before then! I've no doubt that he's going to be working overtime with the race track now out of order for the-"

"Out of order?" Dustin's head perked up; he'd been standing off looking at the nearby pictures, and he had found the photos that Pearl had earlier reminisced over. "What's happened to the tracks?"

"Did you not hear the announcement? The race tracks have been damaged somehow.. Control didn't say how, but I guess it's because of the storm. Can't really think of anything else it'd be..."

"Could be sabotage, as far as we know," Caboose yawned half-heartedly. "I wouldn't put it past them."

"… I think you guys need to go." Pearl's response was suddenly cold and monotone. It un-nerved Duvay, and even Caboose seemed affected by it. The room sat in silence before the two got up and mumbled their good-byes, then exited the unit. And still, Dustin stood by the pictures.

Pearl sensed him still in the house, and looked over at him, still somewhat distant. "Something wrong?"

"… Can I stay for a bit?"

"You can't just go and hang out with Rusty like you usually do?"

"… No I can't." Dustin's shoulderboxes visibly fell as he remembered the moment Rusty had snapped at him. "I just want to leave 'im be for a while, if 'at's alrigh'."

Pearl sighed, and her mood softened. "… I guess he's having a hard time holding it together, huh?"

"I think so..." The big hopper took a seat on the chair that Caboose had abandoned. "I get it, but… It ain't healthy for 'im to be so angry."

"Angry?" Pearl brought her knees to her chin. "He's not being rude to people, is he?"

Dustin wanted to say that he wasn't, but really… "… He's not 'andling the stress well. I didn't mean to bother 'im, I just wanted to cheer 'im up with a movie..."

Pearl began to understand. She had been upset because of Cassie's behavior earlier, but now she could see that it wasn't just her that was being frustrated by losing the relationship she had with Rusty. "Dustin," she said, almost whispering it as she took one of his hands, "don't think that whatever happened is your fault… This is driving everyone up a wall."

"I know… But I miss the ol' friend I 'ad before all this happened." The hopper sniffled, removing his helmet and sitting it on the floor. "I just want to be able to 'ave fun with 'im again."

Pearl nodded her head. Even when she still felt the hopelessness of earlier, she dearly hoped that Dustin would fare far better. At least he'd have his best friend back.

* * *

"Well ain't that some rotten luck!"

The announcement of the demo runs' delay raised the tempers of many of the engines that were taking part in the races. In particular, Greaseball was spectacularly unhappy about it, as evidenced by his raging anger displaying itself like the feathers of a peacock when he'd made it to his shed late that night. "It figures," the large diesel engine continued, "that this crap would happen. Just one more nail in my coffin! Next thing we know, the whole damn race will be canceled!" He knocked a box of assorted bits and bolts off a nearby shelf, scattering them everywhere. He finally settled himself on a bench, running his hands over his hair time and time again, until he'd cooled down to a simmering, seething anger. His back was turned to the entrance of the shed, where he couldn't see anyone that would pass by or peek in. Not that he needed to, as the guest that arrived only kicked a bolt across the concrete floor to alert him of their arrival.

"You seem a little distressed, grease stain." Electra smirked to himself as the diesel engine sighed heavily rubbed the back of his neck. "Need some company?"

"I need some good news." Greaseball was not ready for any of the electric's antics, but he prayed that some good would come out of his arrival. "If you're fresh out of that, then I suggest you take your sparkly ass somewhere else."

The electric engine hmph-ed and made his way through the scattered mess on the floor. "Well, I can't say it's completely good, but it's some news at least. But rather than give you the news here, I actually came to invite you to a little gathering at Volta's unit. Since we've got quite a few that are trying to figure this out, I figured it would be best to do it as a kind of reveal, like a party."

"I don't think I want to know what kind of reveal you're planning."

"Just shut up and follow me. I think you'll want to hear what we've got."

* * *

The diesel groaned again as he found himself heading up to the freezer truck's unit, soaked through from the rain. He'd never been to any of the Components' units, and wasn't sure what he'd find. Regardless, he hesitantly knocked on the door. "I sure hope this is all worth something," he sneered as he could hear the sounds of someone rolling to the door and unlatching it.

The door swung open to reveal Volta at the door, the TV lighting up her living room. She nodded and moved to allow Greaseball in, and the diesel could see that the living area wasn't quite as packed as he figured it might be. Electra and Wrench stood by the dining table, chatting with Flat-top, who sat playing with his brick while the two jabbered on to him. On the sofa sat Bally and Harrah, who watched the TV with Buffy sitting beside them, just as bored as Flat-top seemed to be.

"Is this everyone that showed up?" The engine rolled to the table, pulling out a chair and taking a seat. "I figured the rest of the girls would be here."

"I've talked to Dinah," Electra sighed, "but she said she wasn't sure she wanted to hear any news just yet. And she says Pearl wasn't feeling well still."

"I heard Pearl had a run-in with the wicked witch earlier," Buffy added, her eyes not leaving the TV. "Duvay checked on her earlier, but she didn't have much to say about what happened. Said she seemed very off-put about it all, and didn't want to say anything else."

"I don't blame 'er," Flat-top huffed. "So w'at's the news now?"

"Good question." Greaseball tapped on the table as Electra and Wrench took a seat at the table, while Volta rolled to a stop behind her couch. "What'd you find out, sparky?"

Electra leaned back in his chair, and stayed silent. He ran a hand up his shimmering mohawk, making sure that everything was in place. "It seems that finding any info on the trainyard fire was easier said than done, but we've tried as best as we could. The area's had a hard time keeping management for any of the rail transport services, from what we have seen. Cutting corners in construction, building without permits... Many unlawful things have occurred in that area for far longer than any of us have been in service."

"Well what do you expect?" Greaseball sneered as the rain continued on outside. "It's Nevada, home to part of the Gold Rush and Sin City!"

"Don't get snarky just yet, oilslick, there's more to it." Wrench pulled out a notebook from her belt and flipped it open. "From what we could uncover, we were able to locate the surrounding area's local newspaper, but oddly enough, their paper only has issues archived up to 6 years ago with no mention of any trainyard fires." She scanned her notes, taken hastily as she had done them while managing incoming patients at the repair garage. "According to the paper's editors, they switched to an online archive and have yet to add older issues due to various issues concerning their equipment and the quality of the papers they do have on hand."

"So then... We don't really know anything new, do we?" The diesel raised an eyebrow. "I was told there'd be some news to hear, not just ramblings of hints and dead-ends!"

"We've tried," Wrench hissed back, "but some of us did have things to do aside from our maintenance rounds and general work. Besides, we didn't just look at newspapers for information." She flipped the page over in her notebook, and scanned through it for a moment. "The local library, unlike the newspaper service, had an archive of old maps of the county, from way back when it founded up to the last few years. They actually managed to have maps for every other year, a few of them including what may very well be our blazing trainyard. But most of the earlier maps don't have names posted for the buildings and areas like most maps do nowadays."

"So do we got a name for this yard or not?!"

"Starlight, you are insufferable…. Yes, we have a name. The trainyard was called the Hilton, though I haven't found any records from it specifically. It looks like whoever did the maps couldn't decide whether it belonged on the map or not..."

"The Hilton?" Bally asked, puzzled. Her sister Harrah sat quietly beside her, watching the TV behind Volta. "The Hilton trainyard in Nevada?"

"That's the one," Wrench confirmed. "I can't quite remember how long ago it was, but that's the place."

"That's where we transferred from!" Bally's voice cracked, surprised at how she didn't hear of this before. "I remember the story, it was barely eight years ago…"

In that moment, all heads were on the younger coach, whose face quickly turned bright red and panic-stricken with all the attention on her. Harrah looked at her sister, her hand quickly but softly grasping her sister's hand, and Bally took a deep breath.

Flat-top sunk lower into his chair. "You can't be serious 'bout this..."

Bally looked back at the brick truck, a grim look in her eyes. "Dead serious… I can't forget that day because it's the day that-"

"Now hold on! If you guys were there, then maybe you should know who started the fire!" Greaseball had to refrain from rolling to Bally and shaking her for answers. "C'mon now, who was it?"

"Well, that's the thing..."

"What?"

"It wasn't a ' _who_ '….. it was a ' _what_ '."

The diesel stared blankly at the casino car, searching for a hint at what she was getting at. "… A _what_?"

Bally sighed, leaning back into the couch, her face flushing bright pink. "I don't remember a lot of the details from the investigation back then, since we were transferred to the Venetian trainyard until things were taken care of, but I remember hearing later that the official ruling was that a wildfire had gotten out of control in a nearby state, and fire services hadn't been called on in time to save the majority of the yard... But I figure plans were made to start rebuilding it from the ground up just afterwards, because we were able to transfer back just in time for secondary coach training."

"So then," Volta slowly pieced the story together, "this whole thing about who started the fire has been for _nothing_?"

"I don't think so," Bally said, shaking her head. "From what I heard over the years, the yard accused who I'm willing to bet is your Electra of it because of their own faulty electrical system not being able to take as much power as he needed to function. But when investigation finished, they had ruled out any foul play by any of the trains because the fire caught on at the back closest to an area with . Far away from where any trains would've been up and working at the time, and much farther from where the yard's own power grid was. Even when they added on the extra units back there, they had to extend power clear across the yard to give them power."

"Even I could've told you that," Electra sniffed. "I didn't dare use the yard's power grid to charge my batteries after I saw how haphazard their power lines were set up to the units, so we used Wrench's mobile generator to charge them only if I really needed to. Spent a lot of that time on power conservation just to avoid using that, as well."

"Not to mention they weren't up to code with safety regulations. A lot of the yard could've been spared had they built everything properly and put in a fire evacuation system…"

"That's an awful lot for a coach your age to know about," Buffy gave a wary glance towards the casino car, her attention now piqued. "How do you know all that?"

Bally shook her head, her eyes glazing over as she played back that early morning over and over again, but she looked at Buffy with conviction in her eyes. "Had they put something in place, I'd be betting any chips I had that Harrah would be able to speak today… She got hurt when the unit we were in collapsed after it caught fire. We were trying to get an older coach out, but she didn't survive..."

Wrench sat her notebook down. "I think I remember you two… You both are lucky you survived that. Was the Venetian not able to find out how to repair her voice?"

The casino car shook her head, as her sister turned her head to look back behind the couch. "They tried, but they couldn't find where exactly she needed to have a repair done... They said she could be put out of service for an injury like that, so when we got old enough, we decided to transfer to another yard to hopefully find one that might be able to find out what's wrong."

Electra straightened up in his chair, and stood up, making his way to the back door for some fresh air despite the rain. "Well if you don't mind me saying so, I would bet big bucks to see that your sister gets the repairs she needs."

Wrench couldn't help but feel confusion pull at her when she noticed Electra wink at her before he stood up. Then something flashed through her communication system, and she silently understood.


	24. Heating Things Up

_Author's Notes: BOY HOWDY. WE GOT A TWO-PARTER TODAY, PEOPLE. Last I updated was in August, I believe, so we are well overdue for some storytime. Now, I've got quite a few life events coming up that have been affecting part of my drive to work and do things, but somehow. **Somehow.** I got back to this._

 _And it's just my lucky star, because in the next chapter, we get to celebrate a milestone. BUT FIRST, WE POST SOME DELICIOUS FIC UPDATES. **Language warning still in effect**._

* * *

The rain-soaked yard would seem like a blessing to most people, but to the trains, the puddles of water that spotted the yard were nothing more than the sign of hell to pay in recent time. Most of the working engines that day had been called to assist with the repair of the racetracks in shifts, and Dinah was a tad upset but unsurprised when she found out that Greaseball had been part of the first shift. She had wanted to hear from him what last night's meeting was since he didn't stay the night at her unit, but Buffy had given her a run-down of what was talked about at morning clock-in.

And a particular piece of info was fresh on the minds of anyone that had a particular interest in the drama at hand: Electra was not at fault after all for the yard fire. It seemed like once the news of this revelation had come to light, the general opinion of the electric had changed. Some trains still gave him a wary look as to the power he had, but the trains that knew him were able to rest easy knowing that their friend (even if he didn't see them the same way) was cleared of the stigma of being a possible arsonist.

But Dinah wasn't sure if everyone that needed to know that was now aware of it. One person in particular needed to know it, and he hadn't shown up to work yet. He wasn't part of the first shift as far as she knew, but she expected him to be a large part of the repair service since everyone else wasn't usually asked to help out around the yard like he did.

"Oy Dinah! You alright?"

Dinah jumped with a shriek, and turned to find Flat-top behind her. She had been washing dishes at her diner after the early breakfast rush, and must've zoned out right before the brick truck had come in. "Ah gosh, Flat-top, ya scared me half to death!"

'Real sorry 'bout that, Di. Ya need some help with all that?"

"Oh, no, I've got this!" To her displeasure, she'd forgotten just how busy it had just been. "Are you hungry? I can fix ya something real quick if you're helpin' out with the track repairs."

"Nah, I ain't leavin' 'til the second shift." The brick truck rolled to the bar, taking a seat and pulling a napkin holder close to him. "Jus' lookin' to waste some time 'til then."

"Oh, well that's good." The two sat awkwardly in the diner, with the occasional squeak and thump of the dishes in the sink. "So uh..."

Flat-top took his brick off his helmet, and thumped it lightly on the bartop. "So… Ya heard about… All that stuff last night?"

Dinah nodded, as she scrubbed the plate in her hands. "Yeah, I have… Buffy told me late last night… We talked about a lot of things last night, me and the girls."

"Oh yeah? Like what?"

"Oh, y'know, the upcomin' races, how work is comin' along… How worried we are about, well.. you-know-him and you-know-her."

"Well, that ain't new. Damn near ev'rybody's worried about them!"

"I know!" Dinah sighed, nearly slamming the plate into the water. She stared at it before sitting it to the side and rolling over to stand right in front of the young truck. "But… I know Rusty's dealin' with his own problems, but.. I'm really worried about Pearl. I haven't heard from her yet this mornin', and I know she was thinkin' 'bout coming back to work yesterday. Ya wouldn't happen to know anythin', would ya Flat?"

Flat-top scrunched his nose, his brick still in his hands. "Well, I ain't heard nothin' strange. Maybe Dustin or Caboose's got somethin' new on her?"

Dinah crossed her arms. "Maybe… But they're at the racetracks right now, aren't they?"

"Dustin probably… But Caboose ain't.. Ooh!"

"What?"

"I do remember Buffy sayin' that Pearl had a moment with that older coach earlier yesterday-"

"She did?!" Dinah's face scrunched at the idea that Pearl and Cassie had conversed. "Well, didja find out what happened?"

"Tried to. After whatever happened, I guess she went back to her unit." Flat-top scratched the side of his jaw, where a small cut was situated. "Dustin said she was real out of it when he, Caboose, and Duvay went to check on 'er. Them two left, but Dustin stayed there for some reason.."

Dinah rubbed her neck, sighing heavily. "I don't blame her if she's upset.. Cassie ain't a real friendly coach to begin with, and I'm sure she's been givin' Rusty some real grief."

"Caboose thinks she might've been takin' a knife to 'er-"

"What?!"

"I mean bein' hateful to her! Maybe sayin' things to get under her metal.. It ain't too far off from her usual way of actin'."

"Geez, then I definitely don't blame her!" Dinah huffed and went back to the dishes. "… You think Control can get someone booted from the yard for bein' disagreeable?"

"If he could do 'at, we'd hav' booted them at the very beginnin' of all this.." Flat-top placed his brick back onto his helmet. "Maybe things'll get settled soon… I'm gettin' real tired of everyone's bonnets bein' in a bunch!"

* * *

Nonetheless, Dinah was still worried about Pearl. So much so that when she finally had her lunch break at the diner, she spent it trying to get a hold of her. But every time she called Pearl's unit phone, it would ring and ring until it went to voicemail. "Hello! This is Pearl," the voicemail message would say. "I'm not home right now, but please leave a message at the end and I will certainly get back to you!"

Of course, Dinah kept re-dialing the number, hoping that maybe the observation car would answer. But she never did. When it seemed like her lunch hour was over, Dinah resigned herself to leaving a message. "Hey Pearl, it's Dinah," she sighed. "I'm just checkin' up on you, makin' sure you're doin' alright. If you need anything, you know how to reach me, hun. Call me back sometime!" She hung the phone back up and patted her hair that was still held back by a hairnet. Anxiety ate away at her, wondering just exactly Cassie may have done to Pearl that would upset her so much. There had to be something she could do to cheer her up, surely.

 ***DING*** The bell of the diner door chimed, signaling the entry of more patrons. The coach signed and rolled her shoulders, stretching her arms out. "Hello! I'll be right out there in a second, hun'!" She grabbed a notepad to take orders on, and skated back to the front bar area, but was surprised to find Sofia among the few trains that had entered, quickly taking a seat at the bar as it began to slowly fill up. "Oh, hello Sofia," Dinah nodded politely, trying to ignore the tensing of her body as she refrained from dragging the girl through the mud for anything that had happened. "What's on your mind for lunch today?"

Sofia shrugged her shoulder. "Just a club sandwich for right now. I'm not feeling too hungry right now." She looked exhausted and had likely finished cleaning her coach out in case she was called for a run, judging by the smell of cleaning chemicals that Dinah could single out among the scent of food cooking in the kitchen. "I'll also take an ice water, if you don't mind."

"Sure thing!" Dinah wrote down the order, almost begrudgingly. "So," she started, as she glanced around to check if anyone else was ready to order, "I take it you're excited for the races coming up, huh? We've only got a short while before the races start." Sure enough, the time that had been allotted for the demo runs had been cut in half, so now the racers were left with one measly week to get their practice in before the races. Anyone that had made the sign-up time knew that well enough.

"Oh yeah, I'm real excited!" Sofia grinned, and Dinah could see some lipstick had transferred onto the coach's teeth. "I can't wait to get on the rails! It's gonna be so fun!"

Dinah nodded in agreement as she took the orders of the other customers that had settled at the bar. "It sure is… Oh, but I thought you didn't have a partner?"

The convertible giggled, adjusting her visor. "Well, not yet at least. He's being a bit stubborn about it, but I know he's gonna ask me here soon."

"Oh?" Dinah poured cups of coffee and tea for the others, and handed Sofia her glass of water, clinking as the ice cubes inside it swirled and turned. Surely she wasn't about to start about this.. "Well, I'm not too sure 'bout that. Most people don't usually ask for a partnership almost two weeks before the races. Y'all might be better off waitin' until next year to race so you have more time to practice.."

"I don't think that'll be necessary."

Dinah squinted at Sofia, one eyebrow raised in skepticism. "… Really? How's that?"

Sofia sipped her water, and tsk-ed. "I don't think we'll need practice. I mean, we don't really _need_ the demo runs to practice. I'm sure we will do just fine without them."

A few of the customers beside Sofia glanced at the coach, rolling their eyes as they resumed their own behaviors. Dinah scoffed as she rolled away briefly to get something; no one in their right mind would dare go without demo runs, _especially_ if they were running with a newbie racer like Sofia or running with someone that wasn't used to full-power racing like the engine Dinah knew that Sofia was referencing. She turned back to the coach, crossing her arms. "That's pretty bold comin' from someone that hasn't raced before.."

"Oh please, I'm not that stupid," Sofia laughed, resting her head on a propped-up hand. "You know as well as I do that Rusty has what it takes to win the races. If he doesn't need the demo runs, then neither do I."

"Right, I'll keep that in mind when you two get wrecked in whatever heat you start in." Dinah rolled away from the bartop into the kitchen as she got started making whatever dishes had been ordered. She had the fast cooking down to an art, so it was easy for Dinah to muse to herself over the sheer audacity of this convertible coach. So cocky about winning! She had about has much of a chance of making it to the finals as a moth trapped in a wet paper sack. _We'd show her_ , Dinah sneered to herself.

 ***RING RING! RING RING!*** The phone made Dinah jump in surprise and she quickly reached over to grab the receiver. "Hello, this is Dinah's Diner, how may I help you today?"

" _Dinah, it's Ashley_!" The voice coming through the receiver cracked and popped; the smoking car was likely calling from one of the older phones at the coaches' garage. " _Do you have any plans for tonight by chance?_ "

"Plans?" Dinah propped the phone up to her head as she milled about getting orders filled. "Hmm, not that I'm real aware of. Greasy wants to start practicing tonight, but I can ask if he's willin' to wait 'til tomorrow to start. What's up?"

" _Me and Buffy are tryin' to get Pearl out of her funk, and thought a sleepover might do some good for her. Y'know, let her hang around people that give a shit about her rather than letting her isolate herself_." The coach took a quick huff of a cigarette, Dinah could hear on the end. " _Duvay's up for it, and I can get some of those 80's movies she likes so much. It'll be fun_!"

Dinah scrunched her nose, thinking about it. "I don't know.. I've got a hunch I know what's got her so sour, but I don't want to force her to do anything, y'know?"

" _I know, babe, but I'm getting worried for her. I've heard she's been caught in Cassie's laser-sight recently, and Duvay made it sound like she was takin' it pretty hard. She didn't even come to work today.._ "

Dinah rolled back around to the front, handing people their orders. Sofia was still seated at the bar, conversing with a female engine that had made a quick stop for some sustenance. "Yeah, I heard that too. I'm tempted to ask just what that might've been about, but I don't wanna peel a scab off a healin' wound like that."

" _True_ ," Ashley agreed. " _But I don't want her to feel like we're just leaving her to dry on her own. This is hard on all of us, and I've got a feeling it's gonna be getting much worse here later on._ "

Dinah quickly made the sandwich for Sofia's order, swirling some mayo and mustard around on the top piece of bread. She stopped, moving the receiver away from her as she grabbed a small bottle out of an open pantry. Quietly, she released a small bit of red sauce onto the mayo/mustard mixture and swirled it around making sure it was mixed in completely before. She brought the receiver back to her ear as she put the sandwich together and cut it into quarters before adding a side of chips to it. "Yeah," Dinah finally said through the mouthpiece, "I think that's a great idea after all!" She rolled to the bartop, handing the plate over with a sweet smile on her lips. "Dig right in, hun'," she told Sofia, who thanked her and picked up a small chip to eat. "Yeah, I'll see what Greasy thinks about it, then I'll let you know!" They finished their conversation and hung up their phones, and Dinah rolled back into the kitchen to hang it up.

"WHAT'S ON THIS SANDWICH?!"

The sounds of clanking glass and rattling silverware in the dining area made her grin wide, and she quickly wiped the smile off her face, as she looked back over to Sofia, who now sat red-faced and breathing heavily as tears streamed down her face. "Oh, I'm so sorry! Forgot to mention I was trying out a new sauce today. It's made from Carolina Reapers!"

* * *

 _If you like what you see, or have some critiques, please leave a review!_


	25. Speak of the Devil

_Author's Notes: TWO-PART CHAPTER POSTING YAAAAAAAAAAY! So, like I mentioned in the previous chapter, this chapter is a milestone that I am very proud of. As of this coming Monday (November 13, for future reference), Complicated Matters is officially 2 years old! AND I'VE BEEN OUT OF HIGH SCHOOL FOR 5 YEARS NOW. Excuse me while I go get my old lady walker and tell people to get off my lawn. Also 25 chapters is pretty great in and of itself so there's that too. (I legit thought the anniversary was today, but I can't read worth a damn, so instead you guys get two chapters and I'll see if I can crank out one more for Monday. Maybe. I can't guarantee that.)_

 _Now, let's talk update-wise. I have the majority of the rest of the story written out. The races are finished, we've got resolutions done for the most part, all I need to do is write some filler content and add to plot points a bit, and then the rest of the story would just have to be posted. I'm also working on another major fic for StEx that may or may not be a disaster, but I don't think it'll be as long as this one is. **Language warning is still in effect.**_

* * *

"What's on your mind, Pop?" Belle eased up to the old steamer later that evening, as they stood under what was a dark, clearing sky. Most trains had gone home for the night, with a few choosing to begin practicing as the races neared. Belle was thankful that Poppa had sworn off racing after last year's near-death scare following the second heat, but even when he wasn't involved with the races this year, it was still weighing heavily on him. Belle could see that a mile away, and it worried her. "You didn't eat the chicken 'n' dumplings I made.."

Poppa looked over at the old sleeper, and regarded her with a small nod. "I got a lot on my mind, Belle. You might forgive me if I ain't my normal self this evenin'."

"Ain't no trouble, dear." Belle sat down beside him on the steps of the unit porch, dusting off some dirt from her seat. "I know how you get when somethin's troublin' you."

The steamer nodded again. "… The Rockies tell me that Rusty's pushing his friends away. He snapped at Dustin the other day.."

"At Dustin? What for?"

"The boy's so irritated, he acts like he can't trust anyone.. Tried to find him to talk some sense in him, but he's been so busy with the racetrack repairs today that I didn't even try to reach him."

"He'll come around soon, Poppa." Belle placed a hand on Poppa's shoulder. "You of all people should know that by now, he can't stay mad at everyone."

"I know… But it ain't healthy. It ain't right." Poppa cleared his throat. "I'd been thinkin' that after last year he'd know better than to act like this, but now I'm doubtin' whether he really learned from last year or not.."

"I'm sure he has. And I'm sure if you'd talk it over with him, he'd listen to you."

"What makes you say that?"

Belle smiled. "'Cuz you're the one that raised him, gave 'im and the other freight boys someone to look up to. He may not be your flesh and blood, but you're the only father figure he's ever known… Also he's coming this way." She pointed Poppa's gaze away from her, and sure enough, Rusty was rolling towards the units, slow and stumbling. Working on the tracks had wiped him out, and the young engine was likely ready to jump in bed. "I suggest you have a few words with him," she cooed before patting his shoulder and getting up from her spot. "Hello, Rusty!"

The young steamer looked up, and over towards the two elder trains. He waved at them, half-heartedly as his arms felt like jelly. "Hey Belle… Hi Poppa..."

Poppa waved back, but even he wanted to curl up in bed right now. "Belle, please don't make me do this," he whispered to the sleeper.

"Oh hush, you'll be fine," Belle whispered back as she motioned for Rusty to come over. "Rusty, come here, you look like you could have some rest."

Rusty rubbed the back of his neck. "Ah.. I'd like to, but I'm still dirty from work.. I haven't eaten since breakfast either.."

Belle clapped her hands. "Oh good, I've still got some chicken 'n' dumplings! I can give you a bowl right now, so just come on over an' I'll get ya fixed up. Come on now, we don't have all night!"

Rusty grimaced, but made his way to the unit. He knew better than to object to one of Belle's meals, and wasn't about to attempt that here. He reached the steps of the unit and sat down.

"So," Poppa started, "I take it work was long today.."

"Yeah, Rusty nodded, removing his hat. "The tracks are pretty bad right now… Control estimates that they won't be ready for the demo runs' start on Wednesday, so we're looking at a week's worth of repairing."

"Sounds rough," Poppa sighed. "And what about the races?"

"Control doesn't want them happening any later than they're planned. If the track can't be fixed by the end of the week, then they'll cut the demo runs back down. If they're still not done by then, then there's no races."

"He's not taking any chances with the track, is he?"

Rusty shook his head. "Sounds like it. I'd rather the track be fixed before anyone races on it."

The door of the unit swung open as Belle brought out a bowl of food for Rusty. "You eat up, hun'. If you want seconds, feel free to get some. You boys enjoy yourselves I'm heading to bed."

"G'night, Belle," Poppa said, nodding as she went back inside, leaving the engines alone again. The two stayed silent as Rusty stirred the contents of the bowl around with the fork. The night was quiet, and for once it looked like there hadn't been a hint of rain in the sky for the past several days. Poppa decided he'd go ahead and ask, since they were alone. "So.. I take it you still haven't talked to-"

"Don't."

Poppa looked at the young engine in surprise. "Don't? Don't what?"

"Just don't." Rusty looked ahead, not once looking at Poppa. "I had enough people giving me crap earlier, I don't need any more of it tonight."

Poppa gazed at Rusty. It was off-putting to hear him snap like that. ".. What has gotten into you? You've never been this short with me before.."

The young engine shook his head. "I'm sorry.. I'm just tired, that's all."

Poppa nodded solemnly. "I'm sure… After all, it's hard to rest easy when you've gone and ran off all your friends."

"What?"

"Don't act like you don't know. Word's goin' around that you're not on good terms with anyone. Even Dustin's been given the cold shoulder.."

"Yeah, like I haven't heard.." It wasn't news to him that people were unhappy with him. "I've already had the Rockies chew me out for what happened with Dustin-"

"Then you know exactly what I'm talkin' about, Rusty. It ain't like you to push anyone away. It wasn't like you last year, it ain't like you now, and it ain't ever gonna be like you in the future. We all care about you, and we want you to be happy. But you've got to stop treating everyone like they're your enemies!"

"But Poppa, they are! Maybe not everyone, but the consensus seems to be that I'm the worst person in the world since whoever thought mosquitoes were a good idea."

"Rusty, listen to yourself! I don't want to chide you like a little kid, but I'm sorry to say you're acting like one. Dustin didn't do anything to deserve whatever you did, and Pearl didn't deserve to be treated the way you did."

"Poppa, please-"

"'Please' nothing, Rusty! You had a partner to race with before all this happened. You wanted that last year, too. Now you're skippin' out on your dream once again because of some silly rumor that got out of hand!"

"I don't get how everyone fails to see what's wrong here! It's not like Electra's the sweetest candy in the package. He has more flaws than I've got allies at this point!"

"Well maybe you'd have more allies if you didn't act so foolish around everyone!" Poppa huffed, putting his hat back on. "I don't want to criticize you for your choices, son… But I can't say I support the way you're behaving."

Rusty sighed, the bowl of food still sitting beside him untouched. "… I can't say I like it either…" He picked the bowl up and stood up from his seat. "Tell Belle I said thanks for the food."

As the young steamer left, Poppa scratched at his graying temples. From how it sounded, the Rockies had been sure Rusty was being cold out of disregard for anyone. That he was doing it on purpose. Maybe in some aspects he was doing it on purpose, for his own protection. But Poppa dared to think for a moment that Rusty was struggling with his own feelings more than anyone was aware of.

* * *

"Oh girls, last night was so great!" Duvay cooed as the coaches made their way to the main hall. The girls had indeed had their sleepover, and with a little coaxing from Dinah and Buffy, Pearl agreed to join in. There were some tears that were shed as the observation car had lapsed into some emotional moments, but the overall mood of the evening had definitely made her current life far more brighter. Now the girls were headed to work, a little sad that their reprieve from the drama had ended. "We should totally do it again sometime," the young sleeper car yawned.

"Maybe after everything's settled," Buffy also yawned, scratching the side of her nose. "But next time, I'm definitely bringing some wine, and you two are gonna have your alcoholic cherries popped!"

"Slow your roll, Buffy," Dinah giggled. She beamed as she rolled beside Pearl, who finally stood with a smile on her face for what seemed like the first time in days. Dinah could still vividly remember how Pearl had reacted when she told the girls about how she put hot sauce made from the hottest peppers in the world on Sofia's sandwich the day prior. At first, the girls thought Pearl was crying, but eventually she couldn't hold in her laughter anymore. Soon the other girls had caught onto the giggle fit and spiraled into making fun of the two convertibles. For once since their arrival, the AV girls felt like life was normal again. "I'm surprised you were able to chug all that soda last night, though. Are ya sure it didn't make you sick?"

Pearl giggled as she brushed her hair back behind her. "Nah, I'm fine. I was pretty scared it was gonna be like that one contest we had with the Rockies to chug our sodas the fastest. I nearly spewed it all out my nose that time!"

"Oh geez, I forgot about that!" Ashley laughed, tapping off some ash from her cigarette. "Heck, I thought Rusty was about to have a panic attack after that! He was so worried about you-"

"Ahh, maybe we shouldn't name you-know-who," Dinah started, but Pearl waved her off.

"No it's fine! It's fine," Pearl shook her head. "We don't have to act like he's some unmentionable curse. I don't..."

"Pearl, it's fine if you're not ready to-"

"No, I..." Pearl twirled a strand of hair around her fingers as they entered the main hall; surprisingly it was sparse for the early morning. "… I don't want to blame Rusty for anything. I don't want to be afraid of him, and I don't want to keep repressing the memories I have of him. Whatever happens, it's what will be. And I'll be fine-"

"Pearl?" The coaches turned to find Belle out of breath, her face dripping with sweat in the morning heat. She scanned the bunch until she finally locked sight on Pearl, quickly making her way to the young girl. "Oh Starlight bless, you're alright.."

"Belle, what's wrong?" Pearl held onto the older coach's hand, supporting her as the sleeping car looked as thought she might pass out. "What's the matter?!"

"Hun', it's… It's your unit, Pearl.. I'm glad you weren't at home last night, but I… It's probably best y'all come with me.."

* * *

 _If you like what you see, or want to leave some critiques, please feel free to leave a review!_


	26. Dirty Dealin'

_Author's Notes: What's this? An update that didn't take several months to post?! IS THIS WORLD COMING TO AN END?! No. Not it's not. But I'm still just as scared, because now we've reached the part where everyone wants to smack Rusty into the 25th century. Poor stupid steam train. **Language warning still in effect.**_

* * *

"Belle, what's wrong?" Pearl held onto the older coach's hand, supporting her as the sleeping car looked as thought she might pass out. "What's the matter?!"

"Hun', it's… It's your unit, Pearl.. I'm glad you weren't at home last night, but I… Oh, it's probably best y'all come with me.."

* * *

The sight that the coaches arrived to when they reached the units wasn't near as dire as they would've initially believed, but the sight still struck them to the core as they neared the group that was now surrounding Pearl's unit. Upon their stop behind the crowd, it parted as Krupp and the two Trax brothers came to her side, and beyond the crowd, Pearl could see the cause of Belle's worry and shock as she neared the unit.

The unit, like all the others, was still its' off-white color, but along the paneling that shielded the brick-and-wood framework, there were thick, vibrant streaks of red and black paint that were smeared, splattered, and slung everywhere, staining every crack, window frame, and panel in gaudy eye-catching fashion. The front door, the same off-white as the paneling, was also splashed with paint, some of which had streaked down into a puddle on the front porch that, according to the few wheel tracks that were scattered down the steps, still had yet to fully dry. Each window was also shattered to the point that every single one would have to be replaced. Glass was scattered on the ground below them, and was likely just as well inside the unit. On the front door, the lock and door frame was busted and left crooked, and the fear of theft or something even more horrid immediately settled in to the minds of those that saw it.

As Pearl's eyes wandered over the mess that had now invaded her home, she couldn't quite bring herself to communicate what she was feeling. She wasn't quite numb to the sight of vandalism, as she'd seen it before when she was at her old trainyard. She was never a fan of the sight of old units and garages being trashed by humans who had no care for the old history and memories of the railroads that ran all over America, but it was especially painful to see such violence done on trainyards that were still in use.

By now, the Trax had allowed her to enter her unit to make sure everything was still in its place, and Dinah and the other coaches stayed outside, murmuring to themselves on how anyone would be so cruel as to trash a coach's unit. "It has to be some group of thugs or something," Ashley stammered, her fingers shakily holding her cigarette in her hand. "No train would be this stupid to do something like this..."

"I'm not sure I can believe you," Buffy whispered. Despite the warmth of the sun, she shivered like they were in the dead of winter. "There's at least one train I can pin this on.."

"Now Buffy, stop that right now!" Dinah chided her, her hands smoothing down her skirt in anxiety. "I know you don't like those sleepers – ain't nobody a fan of them right now– but that doesn't mean they're to blame for everything that happens here!

"Y'know, I might actually side with the buffet car on this..." Purse glided up to them, crossing his arms to himself. "How much would you bet on it being one of those bitches being trashy as usual?"

"Oh come on, guys, y'all don't really believe they did this, do ya?" Dinah stamped her foot. "We all know they've caused nothin' but trouble, but if it was them, don't ya think they'd be here baskin' in their infamy?"

"Get real, diner girl!" Purse waved his hand in the air. "It doesn't matter if they're here or not, they'd be laughing their heads off at the satisfaction of making a poor coach cry over her unit being trashed."

"But if that were the case, wouldn't the Trax be on their case by now?! They patrol the units at night, so they'd have to have seen someone out and about!"

"They've already given their statement on last night," Purse sighed, brushing some dust off his shoulder. "They patrolled the area, and found no sight of any trouble, no wheeltracks leading to or from the scene. The only car they found out and about was Joule, and she's not one for being this kind of catty."

"Give it a break, money bags!" Ashley sighed, having finished her cigarette and was now reaching for another one. "If it was them, one of them would be here being a bitch just as they usually do. But Sofia's probably out there schmoozing it up with the yard's least favorite engine right now."

"Guess I should just take myself back to the freight yard, shouldn't I?" The group could've done a collective sigh at the sound of that exact engine deciding to speak up.

"You just **had** to show up, didn't you?" Purse groaned.

Rusty removed his hat, his hair nearly soaked with sweat from working. "Not my fault. I got curious and had to see what's going on… What happened?"

"Ain't it obvious?" Buffy sneered, taking a step away from the steamer. "Even you should know by now what's going on."

Rusty nodded solemnly, putting his hat back on his head. He could see what had been done, just like everyone else had. "Okay…. Do they know who did it?"

"Great, now he's playing dumb," Buffy snarked, turning away from the steamer as she gazed at her nails. "No train with a good mind would trash a coach's unit, but I bet your new girlfriend would love to see the handiwork done here."

"Would you cut it out?!" Dinah's cheeks burned red with irritation as she glared at the two. "Now ain't the time to be pointin' fingers, so wouldja both keep the conspiracy theories down to a nonexistent minimum?"

Rusty rolled his eyes, turning to survey the damage done to the unit. He couldn't think of anyone that would be so callous as to wreck someone's home. Except maybe one, but even this was below her usual level of bullying. "And I guess Pearl's inside?"

"Of course," Ashley muttered. "You can't feel anything but sympathy for her. Whoever did this is probably patting themselves on the back for doing this."

"I would be too… if I was really cold-hearted." Dinah murmured, biting her lip. "I'm just glad she wasn't there to witness it first-hand..." The sound of crying could be heard emanating from inside the unit, and some of the trains shivered as if death itself had run one of its' fingers up their backs. Rusty stiffened up, himself in disbelief over the vandalism; it stuck out to him like a swollen thumb, and it was excruciating to see it in person.

It was a message, one that couldn't be ignored anymore. And Rusty had to give an answer for it.

* * *

It was universally agreed upon to those present earlier that the convertible coaches had done the deed of vandalizing Pearl's unit- if not both of them, it certainly had to be the older of the two. But Rusty had just about enough of hearing and dealing with the drama they were causing, whether it was on purpose or not. It wasn't worth the risk of anyone else getting bullied or hurt, and it had gone on long enough.

It was now long after work, and the sun was set far below the horizon, the last shades of blue fading into the western sky. The engine stood outside his unit, a light breeze barely noticeable to the small garden Rusty tended to when in warmer weather. He had looked it over not too long ago, raking through the settled dirt and soil as he tried to remember if he or Pearl even had any more seeds to plant this year. But now it served to remind him of the bitter emptiness made by Pearl's absence in his life. He had been mulling over the talk he had with Poppa, and surprisingly, for the steamer's current track record of being stubborn, something made him unsure of how he was feeling. He'd been able to justify the good majority of his behavior on the grounds that Electra wasn't a stable-minded engine and that he had legitimate reason to doubt him where the trainyard fire was concerned.

But then there was Poppa, who still looked to Rusty's better intentions despite what he had heard, up until he found out what had happened with Dustin. Even he condemned the young steamer for his treatment of who had been one of his closest friends. Poppa rarely condemned anyone unless they were really awnry or disrespectful; Rusty should've known that well.

The soft chill of the wind floated around him like the currents of the ocean far below the surface. He had already gotten cleaned up from the grime and dust of the day, and he had gone over the idea that had been lodged in his mind since he'd left the units earlier. Part of him had bugged him with the possibility that it wouldn't solve anything even once everything was done with, but the remainder of him pleaded the case of doing what needed to be done. The latter won Rusty over eventually, and when he had gotten cleaned up, he made a call. No one answered, of course, so he left a message. He knew it'd be found.

They'd be here soon enough.

The sounds of laughing and talking beckoned to Rusty faintly. It felt like his heart was freezing over as dread rushed through him. He just _knew_ that once people found out about this, everyone would just beg Control to exile him, ban him from the races, put him on a cross-country run during the races, just _something_ to get him out of the way. He sure wouldn't blame them for it if they did.

"A bit late for secret meetings, isn't it?" Of course, he didn't need to hear anything to know that the convertibles had finally shown up; the stale smell of cigarette smoke was enough to give Cassie's location away easily enough. The coaches rolled up to a stop beside the patio where Rusty stood; Cassie's hair still tightly wound in the curlers under her hairnet, while Sofia's dirty blonde hair hung loose around her shoulders. Both girls were in their pajamas for the night, with only a jacket to shelter them from what little cold there was.

"And here I'd been hoping you guys would be asleep by now," Rusty smarted off. He was still looking over the garden plot, picking out some of the weeds that had since grown in place of any decent flowers or useful plants. "Just my luck that you'd show up after all."

Sofia yawned, rubbing at her eyes sleepily. "Well I was until Cass woke me up… I didn't know you'd left a message though. Everything alright?"

"Yeah," Rusty mumbled as he sat down on the patio steps. The coaches rolled closer, but he kept his attention on the garden weeds. "Everything's just dandy."

Cassie had shifted a cigarette out of the pack she kept pocketed away in her skirt, lighting it with the lighter from her headscarf. She took a drag, finishing half of it as she was waiting in the silence that followed for Rusty to say something as she brought the cigarette to her lips. "… So… What's on your min-"

"You win."

The cigarette twitched as Cassie looked the steamer over, one eyebrow cocked up. Sofia's head tilted, not quite sure what he was talking about. "What do you mean, Rusty?"

"You heard me. You guys win." The steamer refused to look either convertible in the eyes, looking at the weeds as if they were infinitely more interesting than the topic at hand. "I'm tired of all the trouble you've caused. All the drama, all the spite. It's gotten old. If you want to race with me, Sofia, then fine, you've got your partner for the races. But please leave everyone alone. Especially Pearl. You've both done enough."

Sofia's confusion gave way to the joy of his response, but Cassie looked the steamer up and down once more before a wicked smile graced her deep red lips, stubbing out the what little remained of her cigarette; even when he couldn't see her, Rusty couldn't understand how she could smoke a cigarette so quickly. "I knew you'd come around sooner or later. Y'know, you really are a good guy for keeping your promise. I admire a man who is true to his word."

Rusty glared at the coach's arrogance; he was getting desperate to get this over with before anyone could find them hidden away. "Don't. Please don't make this any harder than it already is. I just want this over with, okay?"

The older coach shrugged nonchalantly as she lit another cigarette. "Sure. Whatever you say, Rusty." She took a drag and let the smoke drift off before exhaling what was left. "I figure you two need to get started practicing when you have free time. Gotta be ready for the competition, right?"

Sofia giggled as she bounced in place over her plans being finalized. "Don't worry, we'll be more than ready! Right, Rusty?"

Rusty didn't nod. He didn't even look at them as they left. He only prayed that this would all end soon.

* * *

 _If you like what you see, or want to leave some critiques, please feel free to leave a review!_


	27. The Feeling of Defeat

_Author's Notes: As if we needed even more reason to hate Sofia and Cassie. Also it's 6am here while I'm posting this, so I don't really know what else to put here. **Language warning still in effect.**_

* * *

"Tell me you're kidding."

"Nope. Dead serious. The young one is bragging about it to anyone that'll listen, for Starlight's sake!"

Just as Rusty had figured, the news of his agreement to race with Sofia had spread to the whole yard on only a short while. _Not that anyone needed to ask_ , he groaned to himself as he made his way to the freight yard. He had hoped that coming into work would be a simple ordeal, but the convertibles had other ideas when they got up in the morning. Just as Rusty was getting ready to leave the unit, the doorbell rang, and the steamer opened the door to find the convertible coaches standing outside, wanting to go with him to morning clock-in so Sofia could start getting used to being around Rusty and how he works and races. So it was of much surprise when the three rolled into the hall to find it almost packed full of other trains. In seconds, most of the crowd has quieted down to take in the sight of the current champion with a car hanging off each arm. Most were shocked, some were disappointed, and a few of them were absolutely furious.

And off close to the back, just in and out of Rusty's line of sight, was Pearl, sitting on one of the benches scribbling in a little notebook. Some small part of him wanted to go to her so badly, to at least explain what was going on, but the rest of him felt like he'd hardly get the chance even if he wasn't busy today.

"Well look who's here! The champ's got a new crew to hang out with after all, huh?" Rusty turned around to find Greaseball behind him. Once again, his hair was misbehaving, so a black-and-yellow headband kept his hair in line, but the scowl on his face couldn't be arsed to fix itself. "So, you finally caved in to their bullshit after all?"

"Spare me the lecture, Greaseball," Rusty groaned. "It ain't like I wanted this to happen."

"Yeah, you heard him!" Sofia grinned mischievously, holding tight onto Rusty's arm. Her excitement over being Rusty's partner hadn't faded at all since yesterday. "You're gonna be old news when we get done with you, just you wait!"

Greaseball chuckled bitterly. "Hah! Good luck with that, sister! Your engine ain't on the list for demo runs, so you better pray for a miracle that you'll win your heat, let alone the stupid final!"

"It sounds like you might be afraid, diesel boy," Cassie sneered, feeling the itch to be particularly vile. "Are you feeling threatened now that Rusty has his real partner?"

"What kind of crap have you been huffin'?! Ain't no steamer like him gonna win the final this year! I'd give my engine to make sure none of you even touch the damn tracks-"

"Is something wrong?"

* * *

Pearl had yet to actually hear what was going on, but she looked up for a moment to see Rusty across the hall. She couldn't hear what he was saying, but from the looks of it, he was in a heated argument against Greaseball and-

The sound of her pen hitting the floor only caught a few trains' attention, but Pearl was not worried about a silly writing utensil. Her mind was locked on the sight of Sofia and Cassie flanking Rusty's sides. A hard lump formed in her throat; the sting of emotions flaring up burned at her eyes and her breath tangled with her voice. _Whatever happens_ , she had told herself, _it's what will be_. But still, that small pang of defeat clawed at her heart. As did curiosity, unfortunately, and Pearl soon found herself quickly shutting her notebook, fetching her pen, and skating over to the four trains. Judging by the expressions alone, it wasn't hard to tell that the tension between them was about as thick as an industrial chain. About as heavy and suffocating, too. "Is something the matter?"

The soft voice made the engines jump, but Cassie only smiled that sly, wicked smirk of hers. "Well, good morning, Pearl," she greeted her with a nod. "Have you heard the news? Rusty finally has his partner picked out. Aren't you happy for him?"

The pink coach nodded, glancing at Rusty for only a moment to see that his face was turning red as he tried hard to look at something behind Greaseball. "Of course.. I'm just glad that he's keeping his promise after all."

"Oh Pearl, I'm so glad you decided not to race," Sofia added. "It's much safer this way, so that electric engine doesn't hurt you again-"

Pearl shook her head, brushing some of her hair back behind her. "Don't worry about it. I'm sure he has bigger threats to deal with rather than a silly little coach like me."

Greaseball folded his arms. "It's a real shame, Pearlie. I was hopin' you'd treat us to a lil' show racin' behind Rustbucket here. I was really rootin' for y'all to patch things up before the races."

"Well, there's always next year," Pearl suggested. Truth be told, she was still a little upset that she wouldn't be racing, but of course that wasn't the sleepers' business. "Oh, I forgot to ask! Who are the new nationals that are coming in for the race?"

Rusty began to say something, but Greaseball swiftly cut him off. "Oh hell, the new guys? They ain't worth the energy it takes to power them. We got that one guy from Canada who speaks like some southern country hick, then Spain and China finally sent some engines after their reservations at the guest units were accepted."

Rusty scrunched his face. "Canuck's back here? Didn't he get kicked the year before for messing up his reservation?"

Greaseball looked back at Rusty, a puzzled look on his face. "You're still here? Hell, I thought you'd be rushin' over to the freight yard by now to get started on your work."

"Well it ain't like I've clocked in yet anyway! Actually none of us have..."

"Well, maybe we can play hooky today and go for a practice run at the tracks?" Sofia bounced with a giggle. "It's the perfect time for a run, don't you think?"

"Actually, I think Hashamoto and Espresso are already using the tracks for practice," Pearl interjected, not noticing Sofia's smile quickly turn sour at the coach's interruption. "They started demo runs today using the training tracks, since the main tracks aren't quite fixed yet.."

Cassie scoffed. "For someone who's not racing, you sure know more than what you should be knowing."

"Step off, you rolling cancer stick." Greaseball huffed, running a hand against his hair. "For someone who ain't got a partner of her own, you're gettin' way too cocky about this lil' setup you've conned this moron into."

"I'm surprised, you're sounding like you actually care about me," Rusty remarked sarcastically as he scratched the back of his neck.

"Only because I can't wait to see you crash and burn in the races, rust-for-brains." Greaseball turned to face Pearl, who had been writing something in her notebook. "Say Pearl, how about you come eat at Dinah's with me for lunch?"

"No, I'm good," Pearl sighed, closing the notebook, a few larger papers of different colors stuck between the pages. "I'm afraid I've got some paperwork I need to fill out right quick."

"Paperwork?"

Pearl nodded her head, slowly and solemnly. "Yeah… Someone vandalized my unit the other night."

"No kidding?! What kind of asshole does that?"

Pearl shrugged, rubbing her elbow. "No telling. But I've got to fill out an incident report and spare unit request."

Rusty grimaced, while Sofia and Cassie exchanged skeptical looks. "You have to do a spare unit request? I thought you could room with Dinah or the others."

But Pearl shook her head. "I don't want to be a burden on anyone. Control's getting the unit repaired as soon as he can, and he says it'd be wiser if I just got a spare unit for the time being."

"A burden? But you-"

The bell signaling the start of the work day rang out, and the trains that had clocked in for work began to file out to start their work. Before Rusty could even ask her anything else, Pearl had already made her way outside, as did Greaseball who was quietly swearing under his breath.

* * *

It was almost time for the lunch break now, but Pearl hadn't done near as much as she was supposed to have done in the time between getting to the coaches' garage and the bell for lunch break. Luckily she wasn't scheduled for any runs today, so all she had to do was clean her car and make sure it was ready for the next time she'd be out. But once she'd made it to the garage, she had begun having trouble trying to sort out her emotions. It felt as though she was taking two steps forward and a step and a half back in her progress of getting over Rusty, and it made her quite foolish.

"It's not his fault," she told herself in the quiet space of the car she worked in. "He's just keeping his promise after all..." She looked around the confines of the car; the walls lined in white and delicate pale pink, while velvet-covered seats took their place in rows from front to back. Crystal lights and accents hung daintily on the ceiling of the car, a few of them catching the light reflecting off from nearby. Normally she loved to just hide away in here when she felt down, and if it was at just the right time, she'd gaze and marvel at all the bright prismatic rainbows that were scattered all over. Sometimes she'd even bring a small flashlight and make them herself, if it was too late or dark outside. But she never told anyone about hiding away here, so often times she could be here for hours on end and no one would find her. But she didn't like being alone for very long either, so eventually her peace would draw to an end.

 ***tap tap tap*** The slight rapping upon the car's door snapped Pearl out of her daze, and she looked to the door in confusion. Who could that be? "Door's unlocked… I sure hope you're not who I think you are-" Pearl caught herself; how could she say that?!

The door clicked open, and a gruff chuckle could be heard getting clearer. "Well now, that sure ain't how you greet someone comin' aboard!" Poppa tipped his hat to the young coach, a small grin escaping him. "Mind if I come in?"

Pearl relaxed, thankful for the good company. "Oh Poppa… Come on in and have a seat," she said, patting beside her on the seat. "Sorry if I sounded a little snippy just now, I just have a lot on my mind.."

"Fair enough," the old steamer agreed, climbing aboard with little trouble and taking a seat. "I can't say I'm surprised.. Word's been out that you're dealing with a lot right now. Belle's been mighty worried 'bout you, among other things."

"Yeah, you can say that.." She sighed, looking back at the empty space before them. "There's quite a lot to take in… The unit, the races.."

Poppa nodded, scratching the bridge of his nose. "Yeah.. You're still okay with not being in the races, huh?"

"Well, it's not like I really have a choice now." A bitter edge had bubbled to the surface just thinking about it. "I'm sure you've heard by now about the new team that's racing.."

Poppa bowed his head, thinking for a moment, and then a grimace formed. "I see… He's finally gone ahead and agreed to it."

"..Yep."

"And I guess he ain't ever been by to talk to you?"

The coach shook her head, her voice showing signs of sadness tearing into her. "… Not since we broke up."

Poppa removed his hat, the top of his dark forehead glistening with sweat. "Well, Pearl, I figure this might be for the best after all."

Pearl sniffled. "How… do you figure that?"

Poppa shrugged. "It's just a feeling I've been havin'. I'm sure the Starlight will help to sort everything out."

"If the Starlight can fix it, then why'd he let it go on like this?" Her outburst must've seemed tantrum-atic in her emotions, childish even. But Pearl didn't care. "And what'll happen if he does win? I don't know if he'll ever talk to me again, let alone get back with me.."

The old steamer looked Pearl over with worry; the sound of defeat in her voice echoed in his mind like a stab to the heart, but he placed a gentle hand on the coach's shoulder. "Just keep your chin up, girl. It'll be hard more than likely, but you've got to find hope in this somewhere. The Starlight will guide your way."

Pearl scooted back and brought her legs up onto the seat. She rested her head on her kneepads, shaking her head just barely. "But I don't know where to start, Poppa. How can I find a way to bring things back to normal?"

"Have some faith in yourself, Pearl. You may not want to believe that the Starlight will help you, but you've got to look or hope for an idea.. Sometimes all we can do is pray for an idea. We can't always be given the answers, but sometimes we can find just enough of a hint to get us goin'. I've got faith in you. Just have faith in yourself."

"… Thanks, Poppa. I'll keep that in mind..."

"Don't mention it, Pearl. The others might've been sick of yours' and Rusty's love, but it was such a sight to see him when y'all were together. I don't think you know how happy he was when he was with you.." Poppa spied the little notebook sitting beside Pearl away from him. "I take it that's your diary?"

Pearl's cheeks flushed red, embarrassed as she lacked a real reason for it. "I guess you could say it's a diary of sorts..."

* * *

 _If you like what you see, or want to leave some critiques, please feel free to leave a review!_


	28. Before the Moment (Part 1)

_Author's Notes: Who wants more of me posting chapters at godawful hours of the morning following no sleep at all? Because that's 90% OF MY LIFE RIGHT NOW. Ladies and gentlemen, this is one of the last two chapters I have before we reach RaceTime (TM), and I'm SO EXCITED. Not because it'll be fun to write, but because all that is mostly written and I just have to add a few bits in before they're good and golden._

 _This is a short chapter, and it basically serves to kickstart the atmosphere of the races and introduce our new Nationals. Also you'll see why this one was so short._ _ **Language warning still in effect. (And if you thought this was leaving, I'm a little ashamed of you and myself. Mostly myself.)**_

* * *

Now that Rusty had finalized his plans with Sofia, the days seemed to pass by a bit more peacefully for the steamer. Cassie was still being a snide wench, but the days were a bit more tolerable. But for those that were signed up for demo runs, the days melted into a blur that was intolerably long. For those that had their practices, it was all they could do to pass the time before the races began, and many of them couldn't wait to hit the tracks. Some of them could barely hit the tracks, which were barely nearing complete repairs.

Soon the new Nationals arrived, and Greaseball was almost certain that the moment the Canadian engine entered, the yard might've had a fire to deal with of their own. The clumsy train was no stranger to Apollo Victoria, but he'd been known to cause an accident or two upon crossing the threshold to the yard's main area. Not a second after entering the yard, he bumped into a switcher that was loading small tanks of oil, knocking over a fair bit of tanks that busted at least one of them open. Just their luck that a spark flying nearby from some welding work did not ignite the fuel, but the diesel made it a point to grab the klutzy engine by his collar when he was blindly waving at some coaches nearby.

"Don't you pay one lick of attention when you're strollin' around?" The larger engine chided Canuck as they had moved away from the nearby workers that struggled to cleanup the mess the Canadian had made. "You could damn near get everyone killed!"

"Yeah, I'm real sorry about that, GB!" Canuck's accent already grated on the diesel's nerves, but he steeled himself just enough so that they wouldn't have to make a chalk outline of the smaller engine's body before the races even began. "Say, I heard that Rusty's racing this year after all. How about that, eh?"

Greaseball clicked his teeth in irritation at the subject. "Yeah, how 'bout that. The asshole pitched a fit about racing last year, and then after all that fuss about racin' with Pearl? He goes and hitches up with a broad whose sister could make a serial killer beg to be put in prison!"

"I'll be darned," Canuck whistled. "You think he's gonna win after all them repairs he got last year?"

"Not a chance in hell!" Greaseball laughed heartily, but soon his laughter died off and a rather confused expression formed in its place.

"You alright there, Big G?" Canuck eyed the diesel, quite puzzled by him.

The big engine squinted his eyes, the gears of his brain seeming to process something he'd just learned, and then he grinned widely. "Nah, everything's golden. See ya at the races, 'Nuck. And try not to destroy anything while you're settling in!"

* * *

Soon more trains bustled in with the rising excitement, and the coaches found themselves stationed by the main hall, waiting to see the new competitors.

"Do y'all think they're gonna stand a chance against the other Nationals?" Soleil queried as she neared the native coaches alongside her friends. "I hear the German one is quite a force to be reckoned with.."

"I ain't too worried about 'em." Viv chuckled, lacing her fingers together behind her head. "I talked to the dynamite truck earlier, an' she says the German's about as great at racing as he is tryin' to rope her into a date."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah.. Though I'm not real sure if it means he's interested or just hasn't given her the time of day yet..."

"Girls! Over here!" Yana had already met with the others, and was excited to see the new trains as they came out to greet the local crowd. The groups convened in a twitter of gossip and giggles, and it was clear that Yana had found something worth getting excited over. "Oh, tell me you girls have seen the Spaniard by now, yes?"

Viv laughed, seeing the library coach so excited over an engine. "Not yet! But it sure looks like you've been lovestruck, Yan.. Surely you're not already fawning over an engine 'fore they've even come out yet."

"Oh, hun, it's even worse than that!" Duvay giggled, still a little drowsy from being woken up from a late-afternoon nap for the new arrivals. "We went inside for a moment to talk to the desk coach about something, and the moment she saw the Spanish train glide in, we couldn't get her peeled off the floor fast enough!"

Buffy was standing beside Dinah, watching over the new girls as they chatted. "Rumor has it that his coach was supposed to make the trip over, but customs had to halt her transfer over due to a technical error in paperwork," the buffet car told them, chewing on a small bag of homemade beef jerky that Dinah had brought along. "So apparently, he's on the hunt for a new coach. And so is the Chinese on as well~!"

"No kidding!" Soleil rolled closer, smoothing the sides of her hair down. Truth be told, she had been having trouble with her hair this morning, so the idea that the new engines were seeking coaches shocked her with worry that she wasn't looking her best. "Y-you don't think that they'd be willing to pick someone fresh on the track, do you?"

"You never know!" Dinah clapped her hands together, her curls bobbing as she eagerly nodded her head. "When Pearl showed up, she got snatched up pretty quickly by… Well, she was probably the first choice for any engine that saw her."

"Speaking of Pearl," Viv said, lowering her voice, "what's the deal with that steamer guy she was with? They ain't racing together now or what?"

Buffy shook her head, a grimace feeling quite at home upon her. "I sure wish they were! It'd save up a lot of trouble, having to deal with Sofia in the race is gonna be a pain in the ass for whoever races against her."

"I doubt it's going to be that bad," Dinah added, taking out a piece of jerky from the bag Buffy was holding. "Mind you, she and Rusty haven't had much chance to practice since they didn't make the demo run list… But still, somethin's got me worried."

"What's that?"

Dinah furrowed her brow, not quite sure what to make of this feeling she'd been having. She'd had it since that morning, when she woke up and greeted the day with a cup of fresh coffee. She wasn't a coach of superstition, but every morning she'd make a batch of coffee and sing a little song while it brewed. If she finished the song before the coffee finished, it'd be a good day, but if not then it'd be a bad day. This morning, however, the coffee machine refused to even let out hot water. Dinah tinkered with it until her eyes crossed, but finally had to give up on it before she was late to work. Even if she brushed it off later off, something still nagged at her that today would only get worse for someone. "It's just a feeling I have.."

"Ohh, there he is!" Yana's squealing caught the girls' attention, and they all turned to find the coach completely smitten by the sight of the two new engines coming out of the main hall. One, decked in a dark blue suit with gold brocade, nodded politely to the crowd as he regarded them courteously, while the other stood out in satin-like magenta and black, looking a little silly compared to the one before him as he waved excitedly to the trains that greeted him.

"Yana..." Viv wasn't quite sure she wanted to know which one the library car was eyeing. "Please tell me you're not going for the one I think you're going for..."

"What's going on here?" Ashley and Snooky had now rolled up to the group, quite amused by what was going on. "Are those the new Nationals?"

"If I had to guess, the one not crackin' much of a smile is the one from China.."

"His name is Shènglì," Snooky added, "and the other one is León."

"Hmm, not bad," Ashley half-heartedly mused, getting ready to light a cigarette. "Think they might be interested in a partner right now?"

Buffy cocked her eyes towards her best friend. "Don't you have a partner yourself, Ash?"

"Well I di-"

"Shènglì's already taken," Snooky told them, not quite interested in the gossip about it as Buffy quickly took to Ashley's side pestering her about who-knows-what. "We caught each other before he went into the hall to sign-in. Boy wasted no time looking for a hook-up, I'll tell you that much."

"Seriously? Dinah looked shocked that a new coach had managed to swipe up a new engine that quickly. "That's almost a new record on hitching up!"

"Yeah, but I'm sure he's all talk and no tango-"

"I'M GONNA KILL THAT COACH!"

"Alright, who's shouting now?!" The group turned to find Ashley trying real hard to hold back Buffy, who looked ready to throw down with anybody else that came near. "What's wrong?"

Ashley looked at the girls, a look of uneasy disdain on her face. "Well, uh… Turns out I won't be in the races this year after all."

Dinah blinked hard. "Well why not?"

"Tha-" Buffy's mouth was covered by the smoker's gloved hand, who tried in vain to keep the buffet car from making a scene, but the golden coach quickly bit down on her friend's hand and stomped over to the others. "THAT SKANK SMOKER STOLE ASH'S ENGINE!"

The news shocked Dianh and the younger coaches, and sent Viv and Snooky's jaws nearly to the ground. "She… Wait, what?!"

Before Buffy could yell it out again, Ashley elbowed the coach in the side, sending her crumbling to the ground. In barely a minute, she looked as if she hadn't been able to take a smoke break in a long while, and her fingers trembled lightly as she tried to light another cigarette. "Yeah… Turns out Cassie wormed her way into Bobo's unit earlier. I don't know if she threatened him, seduced him, or if he's about as stupid as Princey, but I got the news only a little while ago..."

Dinah processed this, and suddenly stamped her foot. "Shoot, I take back every kind thing I said about either of those girls! How can anyone stoop that low?!"

"Whatever their plan is," Buffy wheezed, holding her side where Ashley had knocked her down, "we're gonna have to work over time to get them knocked out. I don't know if the components know about it yet, but they better be willing to help get both girls out of the races."

"Y'all don't really think she's doing this to help Sofia and Rusty win do y'all?" Dinah scratched her head, trying really hard to keep her cool about it all. "I know we'd help each other out when we all raced, but even we didn't stoop to cheatin' for someone else's benefit!"

"Get serious, Dinah girl!" Viv held her arms out in an almost-helpless manner. "At this point, I ain't gonna think for a second that those girls are gonna play it fair in the heats. Starlight knows one of them is gonna fuck up something during the race, just watch."

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 _If you like what you see, or have any comments/questions/concerns, feel free to leave a review or CC!_


	29. Before the Moment (Part 2)

_Author's Notes: Part Two of "I Shouldn't Write at 7am without Sleep: the Novel" This entire chapter just accounts for things like the race structure, why certain characters are racing and some backstory, but it's mostly everyone taking hits at Rusty and Sofia because everyone already wants to at this point._

 _Also, this is a wall of text, and I'm so sorry. Combined with the previous chapter, it would've been 9 pages of content, so I just went ahead and split the two up. **Language warning still in effect.**_

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"This is Control, this is Control! All racers to the main hall! I repeat, all racers to the main hall!"

By now, the trains that were racing had all found their partners. Surprisingly, Canuck managed to get Flat-top to agree to a partnership, and despite everyone's hesitance to allow it, Rocky 2 agreed to race with Princey despite Ashley begging him last-minute to pick her instead so she could help get Sofia and Cassie out of the races. Now the trains were heading to the main hall later in the evening. Everyone knew what this was about: now that the teams were decided, it was time to decide the heats.

The structure of Apollo Victoria's races have changed over time, for various reasons from safety to including as many as possible. In recent time, the yard had agreed on a 2-by-x format; two deciding heats with open track slots ranging from 4-8. Since AV hasn't had as many racers competing in the past few decades, there wasn't a need for so many slots open (some years had as many as 12 slots open, and up to 3 heats to compete in!), but as the yard had opened their gates to international trains and the decrease in rail transport as a major form of mobility, the number had decreased and increased based on who was able to compete and show up. This year the open number of tracks for each heat was six, able to account for all engines that were racing and their partners.

"Can't wait to see what kind of disaster this year's gonna be" Rocky 2 whispered to Volta as they made their way to the hall. She, along with Joule and Buffy, were going to compete with their prior partners from the year before.

"Tell me about it," the freezer truck murmured between them. "Can't say I'm surprised about the smoker getting bumped out of having a partner by the 3rd-classer, but we've even got new coaches racing _and_ the Canadian and British trains have partners. Manufacturer forbid this race even makes it out of the arena."

"I'm sure it won't be that bad!" Joule grinned, having taken hold of Volta's other hand and swinging it back and forth in joy. "We even have Wrench racing this year after all! It'll be just like that race at the Mannheim station 3 years ago!"

Rocky 2 blinked in surprise. "Really? Wrenchie, you race too?"

Wrench nodded, flanking Joule's other side as Joule clasped her hand as well. "On occasion. I was supposed to be Electra's partner last year, but I was still suffering from a technical problem I'd been dealing with for a few months before then. I pulled out thanks to a headache made worse by it, so that's pretty much why Electra took to inviting Pearl to race. We got it fixed afterwards, but I had to miss a few more races before I could return to the tracks."

"Ohhh, no wonder Electra didn't just ask you to race then," the boxcar nodded as they entered the hall. Inside, most of the racers were already present. Princey stood with the Nationals, laughing uproariously while the others stood trying hard not to just walk away rudely. Greaseball and Dinah stood nearby with Buffy and Flat-top, chattering and gossiping away. Over to the side, Snooky and Yana were idly talking to their engines, and not too far away Sofia and Cassie talked amongst themselves. Rusty sat alone on a bench near them, not really focused on anything. _Poor dude,_ Rocky 2 thought to himself, _dude's stuck in a grave he dug for himself, and now he's suffering_.

"Looks like everyone's here?" Volta looked around, raising an eyebrow as she glanced over the crowd.

"Not quite," a voice spoke quietly behind them, making Rocky 2 flinch out of surprise. They turned to find Electra behind them, the scent of a clean shower run still wafting off him. "I ran a little late, I assume?"

"Only a little," Joule mewed, rolling to his side. "We just got here."

"About time, too!" Ruhrgold called out to them, beckoning them over with a wave of his hand. "We were wondering when you'd be here, e-lok."

"My apologies," the electric engine replied as the groups convened together into one. "I'm sure Control is still going over the list for now?"

"I imagine so," Espresso mused. "The race structure will work this year, but with Turnov out of the races, there's an extra slot open for anyone should we have another late entry come in."

Greaseball scoffed, his arms crossed as he shuffled his wheels. "I doubt it. Only free engine we have is Poppa, and there ain't no way he'd repeat the stunt he pulled last year."

"No kiddin'," Rocky 2 sighed. "Thought we were gonna have to run a funeral train here for the old guy!"

"Control's mentioned locking out the extra slot so we won't have to worry about a late entry," Hashamoto told them, looking out towards the doors of the main hall. "Apparently Poppa's entrance in was something of a paperwork nightmare to account for when everything was said and done, and his over-exertion only made things worse."

"Don't forget having to allow Mr. Champion over there in for the final," Flat-top grimaced, nodding ever-so-lightly towards the rusted steamer sitting alone by his new companions.

"That too. Clearly letting him race after all was more trouble than it was worth."

"Well, it was only fair," Dinah chided them, still bitter over Ashley's forced loss of partner. "Even if Control's a stingy man, Poppa had every right to name Rusty as his replacement… He only got hurt because someone decided to cheat." She gave a pointed look to Greaseball, whose eyes narrowed, before he cleared his throat.

"And even that added more paperwork to the problem," Wrench added.

Canuck whistled, still very new to the drama that the yard had been facing. "I can see why everyone was so against having him race in the first place.."

Joule flicked a lock of hair back behind her shoulder. "Well, he's a steamer of course! He should've lost to Electra in the final!"

"That was then, my dear dynamite child," Electra cooed, "but this is now. And there's much more to contend with."

"I sure hope that repair garage is ready for an influx of work, Wrench," Buffy sneered, trying hard to keep her temper down after her earlier outburst. "Cuz I'm ready to tear some trains apart."

"You and I both, buffet." Wrench looked at a watch upon her wrist. The time was six after 8'o'clock, pretty late in the afternoon. She had to finish prepping the other repair trucks for the day of the finals. Rather than working shifts like they normally would, any medical truck that wasn't on a run or racing was called to serve or be on call for the duration of the races; an all-day job that meant inspecting every racer, every partner, doing last-minute checks, and full repairs following races. it'd be a tough job, and Wrench hoped that the others would be able to take on the full load without her.

"So when's this guy gonna tell us what's going on?" León called out to the bigger group, the Spaniard shifting on his wheels as he grew impatient. "I'm ready to take my girl out for a run before the games get going!"

"Simmer down, Mr. Matador," Flat-top yelled back. "We're just as ready to race as everyone else is! You'll get beat soon enough!"

"Now hold on!" Yana stomped her foot. "Don't count your chickens before they hatch! The race can go in anyone's favor-"

"And it'll be in mine when the time comes!" The Spaniard laughed uproariously, making the library car sigh exasperatedly.

"Gettin' mighty full of yourself, huh?" Espresso nodded to the engine. "Let me guess.. You've raced maybe once in your life? Twice?"

"I'm a four-time champion of my country, Italian. You'd do well to remember that since you've not won once since coming here!"

Espresso's eyes narrowed as he became incensed, but Buffy quickly held him back. "At least he knew how to fill out the paperwork," she snarked back. "I hear someone forgot to put their name on last year's entry form, ain't that right?"

"At least he's got a coach that can move fast." The comment was made just loud enough to catch Buffy's attention. But the moment she heard it, Buffy's attention was turned to the coach that made it, and it became Espresso's turn to hold her back. But Cassie only grinned vilely at the coach, as smoke emanated from one of many cigarettes she had smoked while being in the hall. "Well, it's only the truth. If you wouldn't snack so much, then maybe your engine would be able to pull a lead place with you behind him."

"Ooooohh, come here and say that to my face, you stale-scented hag!"

The lounge car laughed bitterly as she made several strides towards the coach, who Espresso and Bobo struggled to keep under control. "Gladly! Bitch and moan all you want, but we all know who's going to win this year-"

Joule sped over from her place beside Electra, but was quickly held back by Ruhrgold as she struggled to climb over his broad shoulders. "Please, the Diesel has more of a chance of snatching you up from hell itself than Rusty does of winning!"

"Oh, I'm sure he'd love to get his hands on lil' ol' me-"

"Hey Rusty," Rocky 2 called out, looking towards him with a smirk on his face, "how about you come leash up this rabid mutt of yours? It needs to go back to the pound where it belongs!" Rusty looked up at the boxcar, but only waved him off. "Hey! I'm talkin' to you, dude!"

"Don't listen to them, Rusty," Sofia rolled to him, taking a seat beside him on the bench, "they're only looking to get a reaction from you."

"Well hell, is he so henpecked that he can't even get up and defend himself?!" Greaseball asked Dinah, still irritated by how the steamer had been acting. "I don't know how you put up with him, I swear to Manufacturer."

"Honestly, it's your guess as much as mine," Dinah sighed, rolling away from the group and taking a seat on a bench far opposite of Rusty and Sofia.

"Well, I guess it's a good thing after all that Pearl no longer has to deal with him!" Hashamoto snidely remarked, occasionally gauging whether they got a reaction or not. "It's quite sad when you can't even be arsed to defend yourself. Such a shame, I'm sure."

"Yeah, I bet Pearl's loving the attention she's getting from everyone," Bobo continued, despite Cassie glaring him down with the intensity of molten lava. "Maybe she's even getting calls from engines all around the country!"

"Sure, then everyone can see just how much of a tart she is!" This time, Sofia joined in, yelling it out loud enough for anyone to hear outside. "Rusty's better off without her, aren't you babe?" She looked eagerly to Rusty, who only looked away from the group towards the doors to the hall.

"Oh, well lah-dee-dah! I guess you two 'ave made it official," Flat-top hollered out, holding his arms up towards the ceiling. "Guess what, guys?! Rusty and Sofia are a couple now! Now everything's hunky-dory again!" The brick truck made loud smooching noises as he and Rocky 2 jeered and laughed, but it only served to make the steamer even more frustrated as he tried to ignore them.

"This is stupid," Dinah said to herself looking over the scene, but she looked towards Greaseball as she noticed him moving away from the group. His hand was on his head, him shaking his head as if something was loose.

"Well at least I can entertain him properly," Sofia called back, still riled up by the freight trucks' horseplay. "Everything's more exciting with a working-class girl!"

"Oh sure, if catching diseases is your form of entertainment," Volta spat back, trying really hard not to get too caught up in the fighting.

"And at least people like to ride with me! Rather than you nasty freight cars!"

"That's enough." Rusty snapped and turned back to face Sofia, and his words were sharp, catching Sofia off-guard. "Just keep quiet until Control gets back."

"Oh, he finally says something!" Rocky 2 threw his arms up in exaggerated relief. "Can you speak a little louder for us in the back to hear?!"

But Cassie grinned even wider, clearly enjoying the moment. "He said you're a fucking moron, boxcar-"

"Shut up and get over here!" Rusty yelled at Cassie, who only took a hit from her cigarette and turned back to the two. Rusty rubbed his temples, as fiercely pounding as they were. "Can't you two keep your mouth shut for a day? I'll be lucky if I make it out of this damn hall thanks to you two!"

"Well, they started it," Cassie replied back, cranky that her fun was cut short. "Cool your jets, Rusty. The races will be started soon enough, anyway."

"I know that." He didn't have to think hard on it, anyway. It was only the day before the races, after all. There wasn't any more time to think about it. And sure enough, he and Sofia had barely gotten any practice in.. Not that Sofia was even minding about the practice. She spent more time and concentration trying to talk to Rusty rather than actually trying to practice, which made Rusty think that they might actually be taken out in whichever heat they raced in.

The speakers above them blared into activity. "This is Control, this is Control-"

"We're already here, Control!" Greaseball yelled out, turning towards the large speakers that hung above the center of the hall. He was thankful for the interruption of the commotion, as his own head was throbbing at the moment. "Just tell us what we need to know and we'll get back to our units!"

"Keep your pants on, Greaseball, I'm getting there," Control replied back. "Obviously by now, everyone's aware of the race structure. We use a two-heat system here, with one final race to determine everything. We've got six slots open in each heat, with an open slot due to a lack of active engines. From each heat, top two racers will advance to the final; in the event of an advancing racer pulling out, those who placed behind them will advance to the next spot. Naming replacements will not be allowed this year, as we all saw how great that worked out last year."

 _Well it's not like I wanted that to happen_ , Rusty bitterly mused to himself. _Control sure is taking his sweet time with this meeting.._

"Before I call out track listings, I want to make sure everyone is aware of the tracks at the moment. They are fixed, according to county officials, but they will not let us practice on them in the morning, so for last-minute practice, the practice tracks are all we have open. Track listings will be posted outside on the clock tower message board, garage message board, and main hall message board. Any objections?"

Murmurs floated up from the crowd, but comments and complaints were kept to themselves; any longer here and it was more likely that someone would be torn to shreds.

"Good. Now, pay attention, because this is how you'll be allotted your turns on the practice tracks..."

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 _If you like what you see, or have any comments/questions/concerns, feel free to leave a review or CC!_


	30. Day of Reckoning

_Author's Notes: Insert just about every lyric to the current version of the Rap here, and you get this entire chapter. Just sayin'._ _ **Language warning still in effect.**_

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"IT'S RACE TIME, FOLKS!

It's time for our annual World Championship Race, where trains from all over the world compete to see who is the fastest locomotive in the world! Bring glory to your country and test your speed and strength against engines who strive for the same fame and fortune, and see if you can dethrone the previous champion! Can you do it? Then let's see your skills!

Race Order is as Follows:

1st Heat:

Rusty (USA) - Sofia

Greaseball (USA) - Dinah

Prince of Wales (UK) - Rocky 2

Ruhrgold (Germany) - Joule

Canuck (Canada) - Flat-top

Shènglì (China) - Snooky

2nd Heat:

León (Spain) - Yana

Hashamoto (Japan) - Volta

Espresso (Italy) - Buffy

Bobo (France) - Cassie

Electra (USA)- Wrench

Race time begins at 5:00PM. Be there, if you dare!"

The poster almost sounded like a grade school talent show. But every train that set eyes upon it couldn't stop the excitement they felt as the time neared closer to the races. The day was here, it wouldn't be long now! And everyone was ready and waiting to get it over with!

And yet, Dinah was having a hard time trying to keep cool, even as she looked at her watch for the umpteenth time. She thought it was just nerves, and Ashley tried to tell her it'd settle when the championship started, but Dinah was nervous as they worked their half-shifts for the day.

It all started when she got up that morning. Last-second practice runs for all racers started at 7'o'clock in the morning sharp regardless of if they were on the demo list or not, and as the second team listed in the first heat, it meant that she and Greaseball had to be up and ready and at the practice tracks by 7:30 when Rusty and Sofia were hopefully finished. So it was naturally understandable that Dinah got up early to cook breakfast for the two as they got ready. It wasn't like getting ready for work, where Dinah had to be pressed and dressed to work a full shift; she could skimp out on the makeover. But still, she wanted to look good and feel good, and that started with a healthy breakfast.

So when she went to wake Greaseball up for him to eat breakfast, she was surprised to find that he didn't respond the first time. Considering it was race day, it was strange for him to not be half-awake at least. "Greaseball? It's morning, hun'. It's time for breakfast!"

A small groan escaped the diesel's lips as he laid still for a moment, and began breathing deeply. "...hn?"

"Greaseball. Breakfast. We're gonna be late for practice if ya don't get up."

"...Hm?" The engine shifted in the bed, and stayed quiet. A moment. Two moments. Then he sat up, and he groaned again. He sat still, and a pained groan escaped him once more.

"Greasy, you okay?" Dinah entered into the bedroom, her bathrobe fluttering around her ankles.

"Yeah," he sighed, almost with a hint of strain to him. "I'm just a lil' groggy, that's all..."

Dinah gazed at him, a little concerned. But she brushed it off as likely being just a lack of eating. "Well, I got a nice plate of eggs, bacon, and hash browns cooked up for ya, so you'd better hustle it up before it gets cold!"

Soon Greaseball peeled himself from the bed, got dressed, and made his way to the unit kitchen, where Dinah hummed away as she made her own plate of breakfast. He sat down at the table, where Dinah brought over his plate from the counter and a cup of coffee, and he looked over the plate with ravenous intent.

And yet, he didn't touch the food. Eventually Dinah noticed that he wasn't scarfing down his food like he usually did. Even on days when he wasn't hungry, he'd still down a slice of toast or some bacon. Hell, even a banana or apple would be sufficient. But he wasn't eating anything. "You okay, Greasy?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." His voice was exhausted, fighting off some unknown force that nipped at him.

Suspicion boiled in Dinah, but she held her tongue. ".. Well, I guess I can save it for later if you do get hungry."

Greaseball nodded his head, but he stayed quiet.

"… So," Dinah started, trying to ease the silence out of the room, "they still haven't found out who trashed Pearl's unit yet.."

"I heard," the diesel said, leaning back into his chair. "Since Pearl wasn't at her unit, they can't take a proper report to follow up on."

Dinah shivered at the memory of seeing her friend's unit in such a state; it could chill any train to the core to see something like that done to a coach who usually had no ill will towards anyone. "Ah hate it, Greasy… Ah hate that someone's being so distasteful as to trash another train's home."

"I know."

"It's just so unfair!" Dinah slammed an open palm on the counter-top. "We all know who's to blame for it, I'm sure, but they can't even do anything unless someone comes forward with any leads!"

"Di, chill out." The engine stood up from the table, his plate of food still untouched. "I'm sure somethin' will come along and everything'll be sorted out. You got more pressin' matters to tend to today, anyway!"

"Ah know that, but.."

"No buts. We've got a practice to catch up on, so let's snap to it!" For a brief moment, Greaseball seemed to be perfectly fine, but an itch of concern had started to work its way into Dinah's brain. Even worse was the fact that there was no stopping it from getting worse.

* * *

Soon it was time for lunch, and many of the trains were clocked out for the day. Some ran home to clean themselves up before the races, while others decided to get some last minute rest in before the roughin'-up of the races began.

Rusty managed to excuse himself from Sofia and Cassie as the two left to get super-primped-up for the races, and he treasured the silence. He stopped by his unit for just a moment to grab a quick snack, and noticed the red light on his answering machine. Did he have a new message? He pressed the play button, and ate his snack as he waited to listen.

" _Heyyy big boy, this is Cassie._ " Oh no. " _I heard from a little birdie that you've uncoupled your coach, right? Well, that's perfect because I've got a coach just waitin' to hitch up with you! Oh, I'm sure you know her by now, of course. You know, the whole promise thing? Well, just to be sure, you don't have any excuse now. I know you'll buck up and do good on it when the races come. And who knows, maybe this'll turn into something good! Ciao for now, sunshine!_ "

The machine beeped off as the steamer sat in silence. Unsurprisingly, his appetite was gone as quickly as the message had started, and he tossed the half-eaten snack in the nearby trash-can. He remembered vaguely that there had been a third message on the machine just after the whole thing with Electra and Pearl went down, and his stomach just went numb. He felt so stupid about it all, and yet all he could do was just charge ahead with the choices he'd made-

 ***RIING RIING! RIING RIING!*** That stupid phone again! He cursed the creation of the telephone as he answered it, praying it wasn't another argument incoming. "Hello, this is Rusty-"

" _Oh good, I was hopin' I'd catch you there_!" Oh thank Starlight, it was Belle. By the sounds of it, she was just waking up from a nap. " _Gettin' ready for the races, huh_?"

"Yeah, trying to," Rusty sighed, thankful for a friendly voice. "I can't say I'm real excited for them. I feel more nauseous than anything.."

" _Oh don't worry 'bout that, I'm sure you'll do just fine!_ " The sleeper yawned on her end of the line. " _… I do want to remind you of something, though. I know you've heard a lot of it already-_ "

Well, there went that hope out the window. "Belle, please," he pleaded.

" _-but I think you'll benefit from this, Rusty… I know how hard this whole thing has been, what with Sofia and Pearl and the whole Electra thing. But hun', you know it doesn't have to be a stalemate with anyone in the end. I know you got your feelings hurt-_ "

"I did-"

" _-but it ain't Pearl's fault, and you know that. She's a sweet girl, and it's darn near broken her to be away from you this whole time. And what about Dustin? He's only tried to be a friend to you in a time of need, he didn't deserve to get chewed out either._ "

" _I know_ , Belle. I know! I've heard all this already, so-"

" _So then I know you'll do good when the race is over.. I want you to apologize to them, Rusty. I know you're thinkin' I'm wrong, that you've done nothing to deserve this, but that's just it. You've just as much fault in this as you think everyone else has, and they won't approach you until you acknowledge that. Am I wrong_?"

Rusty had begun to speak, but he stopped himself. His stubbornness was fierce, but as of recent, he'd been having sneaking pangs of guilt slowly chipping away at his conviction. Even now he could admit to himself that he missed being able to sit outside with Dustin into the late hours of the night. He missed being able to chat about the firepit with the freight boys after work.

And deep under the heartache, he regretted the fact that he'd miss enjoying this special day with Pearl after all.

* * *

"This is Control, this is Control! Tonight is the most important night in the history of the world! Time to take your seats for the world championship race!"

The booming voice welcomed crowds to the yard's arena, a sprawling set-up of tracks and turns that would make a human's eyes go crossways. In all honesty, the set-up seen in the arena was only the practice tracks, used mostly by beginners who weren't familiar with the Apollo-Victoria rails that rambled through the county as a transportation service to the surrounding cities. Modest as they were, they were nothing compared to the full circuit, a stretch of rails, tunnels and turns that rambled through the surrounding woodlands, just outside the boundaries of nature reserves and far-off neighborhoods. To many, the tracks were just as much a part of their home as it was a proving ground to the engines that would be testing their strength, pulling power, and speed along the rails, and this year was no exception! "Welcome to the Apollo-Victoria Railyard, one of Nebraska's most prominent rail services since forever! We're glad to announce, before we get started, that the rails have been repaired on time and are ready to go, thanks to the hard work of the state's Department of Transportation and our very own able-bodied rolling stock!" The crowd roared in applause, a sure sign of Control's own talent at rallying the audience into a frenzied fervor during the race season.

"Now," the voice lowered into a rumble. "As we all know, only the best of the best come here to race, and it's time we introduce our rogues' gallery of racers ready to take the lead, come whatever may!" From above the arena tracks, a large set of screens exploded into light, and from one end of the arena, a rather theatrical low fog began to roll out from one of the multiple tunnels that dotted the edge of the arena floor. From the sidings, partners watched as their engines were called out, with stats and clips of the engines racing playing on the screens. Many were excited and itching to get out on the tracks.

But up in the stands, some few trains dreaded the start of the races. Sure, it was the most exciting time of the year for everyone, but so many questions screamed in their minds, and all of them were hoping that the races might solve most of the problems that had been plaguing the yard since months ago. No amount of adrenaline could ease that anxiety; the remaining Rockies tried to laugh off the uncertainty, but even they couldn't fight the looming cloud away. Dustin tried to play his mouth organ, but he just couldn't find the notes to play to ease his spirits. It took everything Poppa had to pray to the Starlight that thing might just go smoothly in the end.

With all the engines listed, the crowd cheered and the roaring escalated to the skies. "Well everyone, you know what time it is! Time to get your gear on and take to the rails, 'cuz it's race time folks!" With that, the sky was illuminated as fireworks shot up into the sky, signaling the start of the championship races!

* * *

"Ohh geez, I can't take this waiting!" Yana squealed as the partners watched from the sidings. Each national engine rolled out, waving or winking to the crowd with a cheesy grin plastered on their face and a shoutout to their home country. "How much longer is it gonna be until we race?"

"Simmer down, hun," Buffy laughed, patting on the library car's shoulder. "We've got a while to go before we race, so relax!" She grinned heartily, a little amped up on a sneaked-in shot or two of alcohol that she downed just prior to the start of Control's opening ceremony. "Things are gonna go great, I just know it!"

"A little early to be foolish, don't you think?" The buffet car growled as they turned to find Cassie behind them, well half-way through a cigarette and smelling twice as stale. "You act like you've already won the second heat."

"Well, at least I'm in good spirits right now," Buffy snickered, while Yana looked for someone to stop the impending throwdown she feared was coming. "Hell, at least I look good too, unlike _someone_ here."

"Uh-huh," Cassie nodded, a look of snide pity on her face. "Keep telling yourself that, dear. In the meanwhile, you can tell your friends that they can just give up on dear ol' Rusty."

"What do you mean about that?" Yana asked, peeking out from over a simmering Buffy's shoulder as Volta and Joule rounded the corner with her.

The convertible chuckled, tossing the butt of her spent cigarette down to the ground. "Your little friend is as good as golden with Sofia. He's perfectly happy with her after all, despite all your fussin' and gossip."

"Bullshit," Buffy spat back, trying **really** hard not to just cave in the smoker's throat-pipe.

But Cassie only smiled that wicked smile; it seemed so alien to them, as if it just belonged to someone else. "Don't believe me? Why else would he go so long without trying to go back to Pearl? You know as much as I do that he's finally fed up with her and has moved on." She pulled out another cigarette from her stash, and lit it quickly with the lighter from her headscarf. "Face it, buffet bitch. You've all lost before you even tried." The coach rolled away as smoke trailed behind her, and the dynamite and freezer trucks were surprised to find that Buffy wasn't running after her.

"… You okay, Buff?" Joule asked, almost scared to find out the answer.

Buffy slowly inhaled and exhaled. "Yeah," she mustered, "I'm fine. I'm just trying to conserve my anger for the second heat, that's all."

Volta crossed her arms. "She sure likes acting like Rusty's just a little bird trapped in a cage, doesn't she?"

"I can see why no one likes her," Yana admitted, not really being aware of how Cassie really was until the other day. "She's just hard to be around!"

Joule looked puzzled, then slowly, her frown shifted into a small cat-like grin. Volta noted it with concern. "Jouley, if you think for one second I'm going to let you sabotage-"

"Hm?" The dynamite car looked up at her sister in a quite confused manner. "What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean." The freezer car stared her down, not once breaking eye contact with the younger car. "I know that look, and it's not worth getting kicked out of the competition for."

But Joule shook her head, her wild hair flying about. "Nope, not this time! I actually just thought of something I need to tell Electra about!"

Buffy looked at the truck, curious to hear what she had to say. "Electra? At this time?" She glanced at a nearby clock, and the sound of the fireworks echoed in from outside the sidings. "But there's no time for that! Heat one's gonna start soon!"

Joule only raised a finger to her lips. "Don't worry about it! I'll be back before the one-minute call, I promise~!" Before Volta could object, the dynamite car had turned and raced down the tunnel and turned a corner, gone in a flash. Starlight only knew what had to be on that truck's mind!

* * *

 _If you like what you see, or have any comments/questions/concerns, feel free to leave a review or send a message!_


	31. Fall From Grace

_Author's Notes: Every time I post a new chapter, I get a little bit sadder. But every chapter brings us closer to the end, and it's been a fun ride._

 _... Who am I kidding, I'm gonna miss giving Rusty grief! Thankfully, we get to start the actual races this time~!_

* * *

"Oh gosh, it's nearly time after all!" Sofia bounced in place as the racers had finally gathered together in one of the tunnels as Control babbled on about things that most trains didn't really care about. Sponsors that helped to make this year's championship possible. Goals that he'd hope the trainyard would be able to reach for the new year. Really, all the crowd wanted to do was watch the competition, and the racers were anxious to get things over with. Their helmets and face-guards were quickly handed to them by the arena crew, and the chanting of the audience could be heard echoing through the tunnel. "I can't wait to get out there on the tracks!"

"You and I both, switcher!" Rocky 2 jeered at the coach, face-guard in hand as he shadowboxed towards her. "You think you got what it takes to make it in the big leagues?"

"Rocky, don't start this now," Rusty sighed as he shifted his helmet in his arms.

"Come on Rusty, better get yourself into the spirit of the race!" Canuck grinned as he stared down the team in front of everyone. "It'll be more fun that way, and no one'll fault ya if you lose this heat if ya do!"

"I might," Flat-top snarked, to Volta's amusement. Quietly behind them, Joule snuck into the tunnel, quickly metting her partner before hitching up.

Unfortunately, the freezer truck noted her re-appearance. "About time you showed back up," Volta chided her as she rolled to scold her. "What were you doing that was so important?!"

"I just had to pass a little message to Electra, that's all!" The dynamite truck smiled innocently, not one hint of a clue upon her face. "I'm not late, am I?"

"Well, no..."

Snooky shook her head at the scene. "It feels like we should've started already, right?"

Princey laughed heartedly. "You know Control by now, I bet! Lad sure love milking the excitement for its' worth!"

"Well can he hurry it up?" Sofia whined, fully ready to make her first appearance on the tracks. "I don't want to waste any more time in here!"

The speakers crackled on sharply, to the cheers of the audience. "This is Control, this is Control! Heat One, Heat One! Race Time minus one minute, race time minus one minute!"

"How are ya feelin', Greaseball?" Dinah looked over at her partner with concern. The diesel had never been good at hiding things, and the look on his face was far from a poker face; his silence was a token sign that something was wrong. "You don't look so hot.."

Greaseball shook his head as Rusty and Sofia were called first, waving to the audience that cheered and jeered as the two made their way around to the start line. "Nah, I'm fine. I'm just anxious to get this race over with. I'm ready to beat that steamer's head in!"

Dinah flashed a smile at him, but she was still worried. _He didn't eat breakfast this morning_ , she thought to herself. _He almost never skips breakfast_.

Control called their names, and they started out of the tunnel into the lights of the racetracks. The excitement made Dinah shiver in anticipation, but as they rolled closer to the starting line, she could faintly hear, and almost feel, a kind of grinding going on. Was that her making that noise?

The other racers eventually followed them around to the start line, each set getting a fair amount of applause as they waved and grinned at the crowds. As the six teams lined up at the starting line, the tension was so thick that Dinah could cut it clean through with one of her good knives. She glanced over to her left and saw Rocky 2 and Joule behind Princey and Ruhrgold respectively, who only observed her with the same uneasiness that she felt as last-second checks were done by the track crew. Flat-top, who stood behind Canuck, saw her gloomy look and proceeded to shake his chest and make kissy faces towards the dining car, who stifled a giggle done out of reflex as the racers were called to put their helmets and face-guards on.

For a moment, Rusty glanced over to his opponents, his view easily blocked by Greaseball. He slid his helmet on, but noticed for a brief second a single bead of sweat rolling down the side of the diesel's face before he donned his helmet. He'd never known the older engine to be nervous during races, so he chalked it up to the heat of the lights getting to him.

As the racers got into position, Control called out the countdown. "3, 2, 1, TRAINS GONE!"

* * *

The racers sped off down the track and around the bend towards the outgoing tunnel. They quickly fell into place; Greaseball and Ruhrgold vying for first, with Rusty close behind them. Canuck and Shènglì quickly devolved into a brawl mid-track, leaving Princey to cover the rear as they decked it out.

"This ain't too bad," Sofia called out from behind Rusty. "I bet the rest of this is gonna be a piece of cake!"

"Don't get you hopes up," Rusty chided her, not daring to look back behind him. "Anything can happen now that we're out on the real deal!"

Sure enough, an arm shot out in front of Ruhrgold and knocked him out, sending him and Joule back into the path of Rusty and Sofia. The two quickly dodged it, leaving Canuck and Flat-top to take the hit before they could even see it coming.

"Try and keep up, steam-for-brains! You're in the big leagues right now!" Greaseball laughed as he sped up, but Dinah could hardly keep her mind off that awful grinding she had heard earlier. It had gotten worse since they started the race, and she began to fear what it was. Did Greaseball know something was wrong?

She couldn't ask him just yet, as to her surprise, she began to see Rusty and Sofia quickly make head-way to the first position in front of them as they rounded a turn. "Oh no you don't!" The dining car cried out as she flung an arm out back towards Sofia. While it did catch the coach off-guard, she quickly recovered and flung her own arm out to hit Dinah. Dinah dodged it quickly, and heard Greaseball grunt in response. She recouped and gained speed before being forced off his couplers and sent to the ground on another turn. Sofia laughed as she placed her left foot back onto the tracks; the stupid coach tripped her up!

Dinah got back up quickly and hitched a ride on the back behind Princey and Rocky 2, who quickly got her back to Greaseball before being knocked out by Shènglì with a wayward arm. Greaseball and Dinah picked up speed, once again coming up behind Rusty and Sofia, with Ruhrgold and Joule close behind, each with their own set of scrapes and bruises quickly forming. Canuck and Flat-top soon came up to the end, with Princey and Rocky 2 gaining speed. As they neared one of the final turns before the bridge, Dinah could feel a pit in her stomach; she didn't want to admit it, but something was wrong. It wasn't that Rusty was putting more effort into winning, and it wasn't that Sofia was putting up an actual fight. This was a normal race for everyone, so what was it that had her nerves so on-edge?

* * *

"They should be nearin' the bridge by now, right?" Soleil and Viv sat in the stands, next to Ashley and Caboose, as the crowd in the arena watched the race on two overhead big screens in anticipation. Cameras were set up throughout the track's course to watch over the race as it unfolded, and it looked to be quite the show for the newcomers. "I don't think I've quite seen a race like this before!"

"To be fair, this is a lot different than what we're used to," Ashley grimaced, smoke drifting off from her cigarette. "This is only Rusty's second full race ever, and he's faring far better than how I thought he'd be doing."

"I heard he got repairs following the last race this yard had," Soleil said, still transfixed on the screen above them. "Were those just because of his rust?"

"More or less," Caboose said, leaning back with his arms behind his head. "He finished last year just fine, but had he been in the first or second heats before the final, he could've been far worse than what he did get."

"Part of the repairs also covered what you did after you threw him off the tracks at high speed, remember?" Ashley scoffed and put out her cigarette. "I guess I can't be surprised that he's doing better. Now that his joints were worked on, they move a lot easier without the rust hampering them, so he's able to move faster without fearing of locking up. But I'll tell ya someone that's not looking so hot-" The crowd cheered as the screens showed the racers nearing the ingoing tunnel towards the finish line. Before they cut into the tunnel, the group could see Ruhrgold and Joule vying for first with Greaseball and Dinah and Shènglì and Snooky, with Rusty and Sofia in close second, and Canuck and Flat-top and Princey and Rocky 2 following at the end.

The tunnel rumbled as the crowd roared with excitement for the result of the first heat, but in the last few moments of the race, the surprise felt by all who were there was enough to overload Electra's circuits: one moment, the first three exited the tunnel with no problems; the next, Greaseball's fist cratered the German engine's face, then Ruhrgold's flailing elbow took out Shènglì, sending the both of them and their partners to the left side off the tracks. Rusty and Sofia dodged to the right, and could've made it to the front had Princey not gained enough speed to where Rocky 2 could grab onto Sofia's couplers, yanking the two back. The jumble of trains quickly crossed the finish line, and Greaseball and Dinah took first place, with Rusty and Sofia in second, and Princey and Canuck with their partners in respective third and fourth place.

The crowd cheered with the results, but as they all made a breaking turn to bask in the glory of the outcome, Dinah hastily uncoupled from Greaseball, who sped right on out of the arena. Before Rocky 2 or Flat-top could ask what was wrong, Dinah quickly made her way after her boyfriend, the race marshalls close on her tail.

And _very_ faintly, the smell of smoke could be detected.

* * *

Electra gazed at the screen in uncertainty after reviewing what he'd just seen. The steamer had come in second, a far better result than what he'd been hoping the sack-of-bolts would really get. But he was even more curious about the first place winner. Greaseball didn't even stop to take in the glory of his first heat win, and he didn't even take Dinah with him as he made a beeline for the exit.

The oil-slick was acting bizarre, he'd admitted to himself. But he reveled in the fact that they'd both be able to show the steamer what-for in the final. Of course, Electra wasn't worried that he'd lose the second heat. Wrench and Volta would easily dispatch the library car with ease, and while Buffy could put up a fight, the electric engine figured she'd be too distracted trying to beat Cassie's face into the ground.

It was now ten minutes until the second heat, and Electra felt good about his chances. But before he could get a charge-up in, a call came in on his communication system. He peeked at the caller, and was surprised to find it was Joule. "Hello, my little dynamite-"

"Sir, you've gotta get down to the repair garage immediately! It's an emergency!" Her voice was frantic, as if she was close to tears. No, in tears.

"Calm down, Joule. It can't be that bad. What's going on?"

"It's that diesel engine, sir! He's hurt badly! Really badly!"

* * *

 _If you like what you see, or have any comments/questions/concerns, feel free to leave a review or send a message!_


	32. Another Chance

_Author's Notes: I apologize for nothing. **Language warning is very much in effect here**._

* * *

Control called an emergency break for the race's run time on account of the emergency, which was soon revealed to the racers and other trainfolk that made it to the repair garage. As Electra neared the building, he could see Pearl among the several trains as she made her way to Dinah, who sat on the ground, wailing about how she should've said something earlier and "WHY DIDN'T THE CREW NOTICE IT EARLIER" between sobs. The dining car welcomed the friendly face with more wailing and tears, and the electric engine could only look away as he neared the garage. Joule and Wrench eventually found him as he forced his way to the closed door. On the garage's operating table laid Greaseball, glassy-eyed and dripping sweat, as repair trucks worked on him feverishly.

Electra stared over to the diesel lying motionless on the table. "What happened?"

Joule, whose makeup had been messed up from crying with the dining car, wiped her eyes with the palm of her hand. "We're not sure," she sniffled, "but the lead repair truck says it's real serious."

"The diesel repair trucks say his brakes and exhaust have been acting questionable all day, maybe even longer," Wrench added, "but they didn't see anything wrong when he was checked earlier before the race. Dinah even says she heard a grinding noise, but couldn't pinpoint what it was… They're still not done working on him."

Electra's eyes took in every detail of the scene. He had intended to race against him this evening, but there was no way in dismantling hell that it was going to happen that way tonight.

"What's going on?"

The taller engine's wires stood on end as that grating voice reared its ugly head. Sofia and Rusty had just rolled up behind him, both still red in the face from the earlier race. Electra didn't want to say anything, he didn't want to **do** anything. "See for yourself," he bitterly gestured, allowing the convertible and steamer to see what was going on.

As they rolled closer, the steamer saw just enough to make him sick. "What…?" Rusty went pale, and had to back away from the sight beyond the window. "What happened?"

"Does it matter?" Electra looked the two over coldly. "To you two, it shouldn't matter at all. All it means is one less competitor to deal with. All it means is that you two go into the final on the first track. He won't get to be in the final."

Behind Rusty, Dinah sobbed louder. Pearl stayed beside her, pulling her friend into a tighter hug. Sofia turned to face Electra, realizing exactly what that meant. "You mean we take first place now?"

Electra laughed bitterly. "Yeah, that's right… You take it for right now. And the sad-shit British train takes second place, of all people! I bet you're real happy about this, huh, Rusty? Happy that you get to please your new girlfriend with your second victory in a row because of a _fluke_? _A fatal error_? I bet it makes you real happy that this asshole could have **died** just now, and you wouldn't care because-"

"Electra, please stop!" Dinah cried, standing up shakily as Pearl helped her up. "Shoutin' and fightin' won't help nobody! It never helped nobody and it won't help now!" She sobbed again, and buried her face into Pearl's shoulder. "Oh, why can't we have just one damn day without someone trying to start a fight?!"

Electra gritted his teeth, but composed himself. For Dinah's sake, he'd save it for the final. Without one more harsh word, he turned to leave with one last look towards the garage, and Wrench and Joule followed quietly behind him.

Sofia shivered in the excitement. "Wow… He sure does know how to get stirred up, doesn't he?" She looked at Rusty, but found he was looking back at Greaseball through the door's window. Dinah still trembled with every sob, and Pearl could only stand and comfort her as she cried. For once, Sofia bit her tongue, and quietly rolled away to give them a moment to themselves.

Rusty shivered at the turn of events and the grief it was causing. He waited until the convertible car was further away to try and speak. "Dinah…." Rusty was hesitant to say anything, in fear that she'd bite back like Electra had. "… Please don't think it's your fault…"

Dinah sniffled, peering at Rusty through puffy, watery eyes. "I k-know that… B-but I.."

"No 'buts', Dinah," Pearl added. "He's right… It's not your fault. It's nobody's fault..." Pearl found a strange solace in this moment; it wasn't quiet, but it was… It was almost normal for once. "Don't blame yourself for this.."

Rusty rubbed the back of his neck, the tension of the moment eating away at him. Then he straightened up and rolled closer, taking his hat off and wiping his brow, his mess of hair and headband damp from sweat. "… I'm really sorry… For all this… If I could..." He looked down at his feet, and back up at them, and his eyes locked with Pearl's. The coach's heart stirred and leapt to her throat. "If I could, I'd-"

"Come on, bug-a-lug, let's go find us a spot to watch the rest of the races at!" Before Pearl could say anything, Sofia called out to Rusty from not-too-far away. "Before they wrap up the emergency break!"

Pearl and Dinah stood speechless at the audacity of this coach and her impeccable timing. But she was quickly clearing the distance between them, and the observation car panicked at a sudden loss for words. "I-I'm not sure I-"

Rusty silently groaned at Sofia's interruption, but he put his hat back on. "I'm coming!" But before he left, he rolled up and quickly hugged the two coaches, taking Pearl by surprise as Dinah squeaked at being stuck between the two. "… If possible, can we meet after the final? We can talk about everything."

Just as quickly as it had happened, the steamer left, and Pearl was dumbfounded. _What was that?_ Her mouth was slightly agape, and she only closed it when she heard a small voice pipe up. "Hun, you're kinda crushin' me down here.."

"Oh Starlight, Dinah I'm sorry!" She quickly softened her hug and let the dining car straighten herself out. "…. Hey, Dinah… You don't actually think he-"

The blue coach sniffled, dabbing at her eyes with a tissue from her apron. "… I think so… Or at least the start of it..."

Pearl looked back at where the steamer had headed off to. She was certainly confused now. Her heart was fluttering again, and it was a feeling that left her just as conflicted as when she first fought with Rusty all those days ago.

* * *

"This is Control, this is Control! Due to medical emergency, Heat One winner Greaseball will not be racing in the Final. I repeat, Greaseball will not be racing in the Final! Trains now advancing to the Final are Rusty the Steam Train with Sofia the 2nd Class Convertible Car in first place, and Prince of Wales the British Royal Train with Rocky 2 the Boxcar in second place! Heat Two is now in fifteen minutes! I repeat, Heat Two is now in fifteen minutes!"

As the announcement echoed off the surroundings of the yard, trains scrambled to get refreshments and sort out their affairs. Many were now upset that the diesel would no longer be racing, and some in the audience had begun to leave out of disappointment at the turn of events. But many were now riled up in the heat of the moment, following a shocking development that had the crowd buzzing in surprise that the races were even more exciting than they had been before; in just no time at all, one of the most likely contenders for the title of champion was out of the race, and now it was nearly anyone's title to win!

As the speakers clicked off, Control mused about the events that had transpired well over a month. He sure loved a dramatic story, and as he searched through the cameras that were dispersed across the yard, he was sure that things were going to get even more exciting!

* * *

Pearl stood in the main hall, looking up at the roster that listed each set of racers as she gripped her notebook in her hands. The second heat racers would be preparing for their chance in the final in minutes. Her head pounded in frustration; she'd been adamant about staying away from Rusty and Sofia once they had finalized their race plans, especially following the vandalizing of her unit. Pearl had taken it as a clear sign that the convertible coaches would get their way, and they wouldn't have allowed anyone to stand between them and their goal. But after what had happened with Greaseball (and then Rusty's behavior immediately after that), her resolve had crumbled to the point that she was divided on what to do. She pleaded with herself to go home, to stay as far away from the races as she could, but something screamed at her to find some kind of action, some way to fight what she was being faced with!

The coach's mind hearkened back to her earlier words with Poppa, and what he told her before she left: " _Sometimes all we can do is pray for an idea. We can't always be given the answers, but sometimes we can find just enough of a hint to get us going._ " She prayed dearly for a hint, an idea, some kind of sign from the Starlight above that could point her in the direction that she needed to go.

"Why the sad face, little one?" Pearl jumped to find Turnov behind her, a lopsided grin on his face. He looked like he was already a bottle of vodka to the wind with his weight shifted to one side, and he even reeked of the stuff. "You look far too sad for the excitement of the day. What is wrong?"

Pearl hung her head, and brushed a strand of hair out of her face. "I don't really know, Turnov… I should've been excited for today, but I… I can't bring myself to know what I'm feeling..."

The Russian nodded his head. "I understand… I have been well aware of what has occurred between you and the steamer. It has been a trying time for you, has it not?"

"… Yeah, it has." The coach sniffled lightly. "...I guess it's better this way, isn't it? He gets to keep his promise, she gets to have her limelight, and I get to watch all the action from the sidelines."

"Hmm, maybe… But I've a feeling it's not what you really want."

"Even then... Does it really matter at this point? He's with her now. If he wins the final, it'll be with her behind him… Not me."

"That's 'if' he wins the final, young one. Not when... It sounds like you might not have faith in him to win..."

Pearl tried to keep a steady hold of her wits as she brought the notebook to her chest. "… Is it bad that I hope he doesn't win?"

Turnov crossed his arms to his barrel chest as he shifted his weight to his other side. "Well, it's not as if he has to win… Correct?"

"... What do you mean?"

"This promise was only about that other coach racing with the 'champion', was it not?" Turnov tilted his head to the side. "I don't remember hearing anything about him having to win in the promise…"

Pearl thought about it, and her eyes widened. She was surprised that she hadn't thought of this before. "… Well, you're right about that.."

The Russian train nodded his head again. "He may have had repairs done, but they do not guarantee a second year of victory. And the promise was conditional, correct?"

"… Yes it was."

Above them, the blaring sound of the hall's overhead intercom sounded off: "Five minutes until Heat One! I repeat, five minutes until Heat One!"

* * *

"This is Control, this is Control! Sorry for the delay, folks, but now we're back on track! Heat Two, Heat Two! Race time minus one minute, race time minus one minute!"

The crowd fluttered with excitement, the atmosphere on edge as they waited for the next heat to begin, and Rusty was no different as he stood at a viewpoint above the stands, his back turned to the arena grounds. Sofia stood beside him, looking around the open space with bewilderment. "Control sure does like to drag things on as long as he can," the steamer hissed; his mind was still spent on Greaseball's abrupt removal from the races.

"Don't worry, I think the last heat will be an easy win for us," Sofia cooed as Control began listing the racers for the heat. "At the very least, there won't be anyone in our way this time."

Rusty grimaced as León eased along the track pulling Yana and Hashamoto followed pulling Volta. "If you think anything's going to be an easy win, then you're severely mistaken. We'll be facing off against Electra for sure, and he's even worse of a threat than Greaseball is."

Sofia giggled as the next two racers were announced, with Espresso and Buffy gliding past and schmoozing for the audience. Sofia waved at Cassie as she lazily rolled past behind the engine she had conned into racing with her; Bobo himself looked none too pleased with the stink of stale cigarette smoke overtaking his cologne. "Oh, I don't have to think it. I know it'll be easy! No one can move as fast as we can. They'd be crazy to even try!"

As Electra and Wrench rounded out the 2nd heat racers, Rusty felt a pang of bitterness as he remembered that he was just like when Pearl was with him. He figured she was back at her unit, passing the time all alone… "Yeah, as if anyone would be crazy this time-"

"Ladies and gentlemen, against all odds, we've got a late entry! Sliding into Track 6 it's… Oh my! Fresh out of the repair garage, it's Turnov the Trans-Siberian Express! With Pearl, the First-Class Carriage!"

Both Rusty and Sofia turned sharply to the tracks. Sure enough, riding behind the solid red of Turnov's race gear, was that delicate pink coach that many had believed would be staying home tonight. The crowd erupted into cheers as the late entry waved at the audience, but Rusty's heart dropped like an anchor to the floor of an ocean abyss as he watched the two make their way to the starting line, and his fears and anxiety went into overdrive. What in Starlight's name was Pearl thinking?!

* * *

 _Please feel free to leave a review if you like what you see or have any questions, comments, or concerns!_


	33. Rise into Action

_Author's Notes: I forgot I had this chapter pre-sectioned for posting in mid-March and was about to make another doc for it. WHOOPS. At least I didn't have to change too much in it... **Language warning still in effect.**_

* * *

Both Rusty and Sofia turned sharply to the tracks. Sure enough, riding behind the solid red of Turnov's race gear, was that delicate pink coach that many had believed would be staying home tonight. The crowd erupted into cheers as the late entry waved at the audience, but Rusty's heart dropped like an anchor to the floor of an ocean abyss as he watched the two make their way to the starting line, and his fears and anxiety went into overdrive. What in Starlight's name was Pearl thinking?!

* * *

The young coach herself felt overwhelmed by the response the two of them received when they rolled out from the tunnel into the bright lights of the race track's starting line. She felt a mix of giddiness and nausea rise in her, but Pearl calmed herself down as they rolled into position beside Electra and Wrench. She could feel all eyes on her as last-second checks were administered to the racers.

"What the actual hell are you thinking, Pearl?!" Wrench admonished her quietly as she whipped around to scold her. "You know this isn't the time to be fooling around!"

"I'm not fooling around," Pearl firmly stated, her gaze locked on her partner's couplers. "I… I'll explain it once we've finished the race."

"You mean ' _if_ ' you finish the race," Wrench snapped back as the call for protective gear was made. "You're racing with a supposedly bum-legged engine, remember?" The repair truck cast a stern glare at the Russian, as he only shrugged to the electric engine that looked back in surprise.

Pearl nodded, and prepared herself for the race, but before she got into position, she locked eyes with Cassie, who glared back at her from behind Bobo. Pearl prayed to the Starlight that the convertible could understand whatever message she was sending; she didn't care how it happened, but Pearl wasn't going down without a fight.

* * *

"ASHLEY!"

The smoking car lifted her head from a book as she heard her name called out, and sighed, closing the book as she recognized the voice as Poppa's. The old steamer rolled over to her as the coach lit a cigarette and took a drag from it before he came to a stop. "Just in time, Pops. They just announced the late entry."

"So I've heard," Poppa grunted, breathing heavily. "How could you let her do this?"

"Look, I'm sorry. I had no idea about it, but this was her decision to make." Ashley waved away the smoke and shook her head at the old steamer. "I know we all want her to be okay through all this, especially after that scare she had the other day, but I personally applaud her for wanting to take action after sulking so much. Our little coach is growing up!"

"Now Ashley, you know as well as I do that I have no problem with that, but I was told before the races that Turnov was supposed to be out with a busted wheel. If she wanted to race, she should've told me-"

"Poppa! Ashley!" Rusty came around the corner and rushed to the two, well out of breath himself. "What the hell's going on?! You guys said she wasn't racing!"

"We did," Ashley groaned. "That was back then, so clearly she's changed her mind. Please, you need to get a grip on yourself.."

"And you just let her go?! Do you know who she's up against right now?! Cassie's out there with Bobo trying her darndest to win-"

"As if I had any control over her doing this! If you're so worried about her, then YOU better hope she puts up a better fight than you did! She's probably doing this because she's tired of taking a backseat to everything and wishin' that everything was okay between you two. And I'm just fine with that! If she decides she wants to give up on you, then I'll support her 100%, because we're all officially done with this whole circus involving you, your lil' bimbo girlfriend, and her gremlin of a sister!"

"Ash, come on, stop berating him," Poppa placed a hand on the brown car's shoulder, and she shuddered. Ashley stuck her cigarette back between her lips before she rolled away from the steamers and out of sight. Poppa sighed, and turned back to Rusty with a grim look on his face. "So… was this worth it?"

Rusty glared back at where Ashley had left, then back at Poppa. "Worth what?"

"Worth all the trouble." Poppa scratched his head. "I had really hoped that you two would patch things up before the races. You wanted for so long to race with Pearl, and now that you had the chance, everything's gone topsy-turvy. I can't say I'm proud of you for the things you've said or done, or things that I've heard, but I can say this: once you finish racing, that's it. The way I see it, you only had to race with her. Not win. For the yard's sake, I hope the final settles everything. So I hope the outcome you get is worth all the fuss that's been done."

Poppa adjusted his firebox and rolled towards the entrance to the tunnel he'd came out of, and Rusty stood alone in the darkness. The cheer of the yard could be heard echoing through the tunnels, and it rang in his ears. But it couldn't shake the feeling he had in his boiler. Something burning bright alongside the roaring fire of uncertainty.

* * *

The racers sped down the tracks as the second heat was underway, but Pearl could feel the knot in her stomach tighten. As the tracks merged into one large criss-crossing twist of metal and wood, she became aware of everything as she had learned when she practiced with Rusty. She was well aware that anyone would fight dirty to win, and that became a reality as she felt a tug on her couplers. She quickly swatted it away to find Cassie right behind her, laughing as they raced along the tracks.

"You should've stayed home, princess!" The convertible raised another arm to swing at her opponent, but was quickly caught off guard by a hard tug on her own couplers, throwing her and Bobo back not far behind them.

"And you should've stayed out of our lives," Buffy laughed as she flipped off the older coach. "You fight with my friend, you get burned, bitch!" Bobo and Cassie quickly gained speed to face off against Espresso and Buffy (though really, it was more Cassie and Buffy fighting than the engines), and Turnov and Pearl gained speed to match up against León and Yana, with Electra and Hashamoto in the lead with their partners as they took a sharp turn towards the overpass, a section of the track that crossed over a lower portion that would be used in the final.

The teams began to cross the overpass, and Turnov quickly shot out a fist, sending León and Yana into a nearby beam. León was sent over the edge, thankfully dealing with a short fall compared to what it could've been elsewhere, but Yana managed to brake precariously on the edge. Pearl sighed for a second before she saw Cassie try to shove the green coach over the edge, only for Espresso and Hashamoto to drop and catch the coach's hands, sending Buffy and Volta down to the overpass's track.

"Three down, two to go!" The convertible laughed as the remaining trains zoomed further down the track, coming towards many sharp turns on a slope. As the trains descended down the path, Bobo and Cassie soon met back up with Turnov and Pearl, who was none too happy with having to deal with them again. The dark coach shot a fist out to Pearl, who blocked it quickly before sending her own back. Cassie simply grabbed it and twisted Pearl's wrist hard, making the coach shout in pain. The coaches swatted and swung at each other before Espresso and Buffy soon caught back up, with the two friends now throwing their punches right back at their common enemy. In a split moment, a shout rang out, and Hashamoto came tumbling back over the track, taking out Espresso and Cassie and leaving Bobo and Buffy to take up slack and finish the race without their partners (which Bobo was very thankful for).

* * *

Back at the arena, the audience ooh'ed and ahh'ed at the violent brawling that ensued, and Poppa and Dustin were surprised to see that Pearl was holding her own during the race. But as they neared the final stretch of the track, viewers could see that Espresso and Cassie had hitched up and started back on the track. They were gaining fast, and it kept the big hopper on edge. "You don't think Cassie's going to win, do you Poppa?"

Poppa groaned, making it back to his seat just before they made it to the overpass. "I don't know Dustin. I just hope Pearl will be alright with Turnov..."

"What'd I miss?" Belle rolled into their seats, gently taking a seat with her sunglasses on. "How's our little girl doin'?"

"If she and the Russian can pull a lead place from this, I will be thankin' the Starlight for days!" Poppa shook his head, not wanting to miss a second of the action. "Where've you been?"

"Oh, runnin' some errands," Belle yawned. "I took a short nap 'fore I came here, of course!"

The crowd hollered as the trains entered into the inward tunnel, and the clattering roar of the engines shook the arena as they charged inside. Erupting out of the tunnel, Turnov and Electra were neck and neck, with Pearl and Wrench focusing hard on helping to get ahead. Espresso and Cassie were behind them pulling up quickly, with the others that remained trailing behind. In a millisecond of a moment, Cassie had gotten close enough to shoot a leg out to trip Pearl.

But Pearl never felt that leg even touch her wheels. Cassie's foot swung too low and collided with part of the track, forcing her off the couplers and flying to the ground as Electra and Wrench passed the finish line in first place with Turnov and Pearl in second place.

Cheers and excitement roared over the arena as the trains made their turning stop to bask in their success of finishing the race, and Pearl felt the thrill of it all coursing through her. She couldn't help but smile at the joy of even placing in the final, even though she should've been sharing this excitement with someone else.

* * *

That someone-else was now explicitly upset that Pearl had decided to race after all, and had excused himself from his race partner to throw a mental fit about how the final might go now that Pearl was taking part.

Rusty, having exhausted himself after said fit and the confrontation with Poppa and Ashley, now sat on the steps of the main hall, where the clock tower's lit face loomed in front of him displaying the late-evening time proudly. They now had 20 minutes left before the final, and the steamer was scared to find out what the results of the final might be. Would he win with Sofia? Would Pearl make it to the final and win with Turnov? Would Electra obliterate him before he even had a chance to leave the starting line? The idea of the steamer simply exploding by electric overload played vividly in his mind, and it only made him even sicker.

But what really got to him was when he remembered back to what happened at the repair garage. Greaseball was close to death over something that wasn't anyone's fault, and Rusty couldn't fault anyone for being upset over something like that. After how he'd been acting, he couldn't even blame Electra for being so vicious towards him.

And then there were his last words with Pearl and Dinah. Dinah was grieving in fear that she'd lose the engine she loved, one that had a history of being reckless and hardheaded. And Pearl had been comforting her, no doubt like Dinah had done the same for her because of another engine that had been, and was still being, reckless and hard-headed.

Both the promise he had made to Sofia and the argument of the whole thing that broke Rusty and Pearl up tried to replay itself in his mind, but it sounded like dull static to him now. But he forced himself to remember what he'd asked of the girls back before the second heat.

" _If possible, can we meet after the final? We can talk about everything."_

If possible… _If possible_.

Rusty prayed a silent prayer to the Starlight. He prayed that it wasn't going to be a possibility. He prayed that it would be a fact, a truth, a reality. They would meet afterwards, and they would talk about everything.

He was just about to leave when he spotted Dustin coming from the units, hands full of snacks as he stuck a small sucker in his mouth; the hopper had excused himself following the second race and found himself hungry for something the arena's concessions didn't have. Now that Rusty thought about it, he hadn't really talked to Dustin since that whole thing at the freight yard, and after Poppa's stinging remarks about how he'd been acting, he wasn't surprised.

And now that he thought about it, Rusty hadn't really talked to him or the other freight guys since then either. Most of the boys had been on different shifts during the track repairs so he didn't have the chance to speak to them, and those that were on the same shift hardly paid him mind aside from a few glares. And then Belle's phone call replayed in his mind...

"Hey, Dustin-" he said just short of realizing it before he stopped himself. Maybe it wasn't a good idea to try and talk to him after all that..

But Dustin turned to look at him, a little surprised himself. "Oh… 'Ey, Rusty.."

 _Well shoot_ , Rusty thought; now he was stuck. "Hey… Looks like you're ready for the final, huh?"

"Yeah," the big hopper nodded, barely gesturing with his full arms. ".. You excited to race?"

The engine grimaced. "Yeah, about as excited as a cat getting ready for a bath."

Dustin hmm'-ed as he glanced down at his snacks. "I see… Guess Sofia's excited about it too, eh?"

"Too excited, honestly." Rusty kicked the ground with a toe brake. " I don't know... I just want it to be over with."

"I don't blame ya."

"Huh?"

Dustin shifted uncomfortably where he stood, his arms getting tired. "… I feel bad for ya, Rusty. I know this whole thing ain't been fun for ya… but I hope it gets better when it's all done with."

Once again, guilt burned in Rusty's broiler. How could he let this go on any longer? "Dustin… I'm real sorry for snapping at you back then. You didn't mean any harm that time-"

"Don't worry 'bout it, Rusty," the hopper said as he turned to look at him, the sweets crinkling and rustling as he moved. "The Rockies still ain't happy about it, but I can't be angry at ya for it."

Well, Rusty wasn't quite sure if he expected this from Dustin or not. "… You forgive me?"

"Of course I do!" Dustin skated closer, dropping a few bags of snacks as he cleared the distance between them. "You're my best mate, right wit' Poppa, Flatty and the rest of the freight! Can't jus' forget that when you guys 'ave been the nicest to me." Dustin would never forget it, of course. The two had been friends for what felt like ages, likely starting not long after Rusty had made the promise with Sofia. Dustin hadn't cleared general training the year before, and wound up retaking the year over to his embarrassment, making him a target for bullying from the older trains, and subsequently he was put in Rusty's class to catch up. The two connected instantly and were inseparable ever since, and it had devastated Dustin to think that Rusty would ever be upset with him to the point of losing their friendship. "I know you got a lot on your mind.. but I'm still rootin' for ya!"

Rusty couldn't help but shake his head in disbelief. "I swear… I don't deserve a friend like you.. I really am sorry about everything. I guess we can say everything's my fault, huh?"

"Nah, don't fret 'bout it! I bet everything's gonna be better in no time!" Dustin looked back down at his snacks and noticed the bags he dropped, and moved to pick them. "Oh yeah, what time is it?"

Rusty looked back at the clock tower; the clock now read 15 minutes until the final. "It's almost time…. But I think I have some time to spare before I head back."

* * *

 _If you like what you see or have any comments, questions or concerns, feel free to leave a review!_


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